Mining machine management system and mining machine management method

ABSTRACT

A mining machine management system includes: a position information detection unit detecting position information related to a position of a mining machine; and a determination unit determining whether a second route corresponding to a position information group obtained from a plurality of pieces of the position information detected when the mining machine is in operation is identical to a first route that is a route taken by the mining machine departing a predetermined first position, passing a second position at which a load is loaded, and moving to a third position at which the load is removed, based on at least route information of the first route and the position information group, the route information including a plurality of nodes present at every predetermined distance of the first route and a link connecting the nodes adjacent to each other.

FIELD

The present invention relates to a system and method of managing amining machine.

BACKGROUND

A variety of construction machines such as an excavator and a dump truckare operated at a construction work site or a mining site in a mine.What is increasingly performed in recent years is that operationinformation of a construction machine is acquired by wirelesscommunication to grasp the state of the construction machine. Anoperation simulation system of a conveying machine is described inPatent Literature 1, for example.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Application PublicationNo. 5-290103

SUMMARY Technical Problem

When one intends to perform track design evaluation or give drivinginstruction for a driver in order to improve productivity at a mine, ananalysis is required for each route travelled by a mining machine. Inorder to attain such purpose, one needs to generate a new track map ofan operation site of the mining machine as well as detect and analyzewhat kind of event occurs when the mining machine travels at whichposition in the generated track map and what kind of operation isperformed. It is therefore required to specify a route travelled by themining machine by distinguishing the route. However, it is difficult forthe operation simulation described in Patent Literature 1 to accuratelydistinguish and specify the route travelled by the mining machine.

An object of the present invention is to improve the accuracy indistinguishing and specifying the route travelled by the mining machinein a mine.

Solution to Problem

According to the present invention, a mining machine management systemcomprises: a position information detection unit which is mounted in amining machine operating in a mine and detects position informationrelated to a position of the mining machine; a determination unit whichdetermines whether or not a second route corresponding to a positioninformation group obtained from a plurality of pieces of the positioninformation detected by the position information detection unit when themining machine is in operation is identical to a first route that is aroute taken by the mining machine departing a predetermined firstposition, passing a second position at which a load is loaded, andmoving to a third position at which the load is removed, based on atleast route information of the first route and the position informationgroup, the route information including a plurality of nodes present atevery predetermined distance of the first route and a link connectingthe nodes adjacent to each other; and a storage unit which storestherein the route information, wherein the determination unit determinesthat the second route corresponding to the position information group isidentical to the first route when: first position informationcorresponding to the first position corresponds with the first positionof the route information, second position information corresponding tothe second position corresponds with the second position of the routeinformation, and third position information corresponding to the thirdposition corresponds with the third position of the route information,the first, second, and third position information being included in theplurality of pieces of position information; a ratio of the nodes eachof which is located at a position that corresponds with the positioninformation is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold out ofthe plurality of nodes present between the first position and the secondposition and the plurality of nodes present between the second positionand the third position; and a difference between a travel distance ofthe mining machine obtained from the plurality of pieces of positioninformation and a distance from the first position through the secondposition up to the third position falls within a predetermined range.

In the present invention, it is preferable that a section having aplurality of the links adjacent to each other within the first route isdetermined to be a specific section in which a slope difference betweenthe links adjacent to each other falls within a predetermined value, anorientation difference between the links adjacent to each other fallswithin a predetermined value, and there is no intersection between thelinks, and the determination unit determines that the second route isnot identical to the first route when a position of the node at each ofboth ends of the specific section does not correspond with positioninformation corresponding to the second route for all the specificsection.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the determination unitupdates at least one of the number of travels, travel time, andoperation information of the mining machine travelling the first routewhen the second route is determined to be identical to the first route.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the determination unitupdates at least one of the number of travels, travel time, andoperation information of the mining machine travelling the latest firstroute when the second route is determined to be identical to a pluralityof the first routes.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the mining machinemanagement system further comprises a route information generation unitwhich generates route information including the plurality of nodes andat least one of the links based on the plurality of pieces of positioninformation, wherein when the determination unit determines that thesecond route is not identical to the first route, the route informationgeneration unit uses the plurality of pieces of position informationcorresponding to the second route to generate new route information thatincludes the plurality of nodes and at least one of the links related tothe second route, and stores the new route information into the storageunit.

In the present invention, it is preferable that when the determinationunit determines that the second route is not identical to the firstroute and a part of the position information group corresponds withpositions of a part of the nodes included in existing route information,the route information generation unit generates the new routeinformation by using the node whose position corresponds with the partof the position information group.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the determination unitupdates at least one of the number of travels, the travel time, and theoperation information of the mining machine travelling a specificsection of the first route when the second route is determined to beidentical to the first route, a specific section of the second routecorresponds with the specific section of the first route, or a newspecific section is generated.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the determination unitdetermines one of the nodes, to which three or more of the links areconnected, as an intersection.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the determination unitcompares the plurality of pieces of position information with the routeinformation located in a predetermined range around the plurality ofpieces of position information to determine whether or not the secondroute corresponding to a plurality of the position information groups isidentical to the first route.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the determination unitdetermines correspondence between the plurality of pieces of positioninformation and each of the first position information, the secondposition information, and the third position information by using thefirst position, the second position, and the third position on the firstroute that are registered in the storage unit for less than apredetermined period of time.

According to the present invention, a mining machine management method,comprises: detecting position information related to a position of amining machine operating in a mine; and determining whether or not asecond route corresponding to a position information group obtained froma plurality of pieces of the position information detected when themining machine is in operation is identical to a first route that is aroute taken by the mining machine departing a predetermined firstposition, passing a second position at which a load is loaded, andmoving to a third position at which the load is removed, based on atleast route information of the first route and the position informationgroup, the route information including a plurality of nodes present atevery predetermined distance of the first route and a link connectingthe nodes adjacent to each other, wherein the determining includesdetermining that the second route corresponding to the positioninformation group is identical to the first route when: first positioninformation corresponding to the first position corresponds with thefirst position of the route information, second position informationcorresponding to the second position corresponds with the secondposition of the route information, and third position informationcorresponding to the third position corresponds with the third positionof the route information, the first, second, and third positioninformation being included in the plurality of pieces of positioninformation; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at a positionthat corresponds with the position information is greater than or equalto a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodes presentbetween the first position and the second position and the plurality ofnodes present between the second position and the third position; and adifference between a travel distance of the mining machine obtained fromthe plurality of pieces of position information and a distance from thefirst position through the second position up to the third positionfalls within a predetermined range.

In the present invention, it is preferable that wherein a section havinga plurality of the links adjacent to each other within the first routeis determined to be a specific section in which a slope differencebetween the links adjacent to each other falls within a predeterminedvalue, an orientation difference between the links adjacent to eachother falls within a predetermined value, and there is no intersectionbetween the links, and the determining includes determining that thesecond route is not identical to the first route when a position of thenode at each of both ends of the specific section does not correspondwith position information corresponding to the second route for all thespecific section.

In the present invention, it is preferable that at least one of thenumber of travels, travel time, and operation information of the miningmachine travelling the first route is updated when the second route isdetermined to be identical to the first route.

In the present invention, it is preferable that at least one of thenumber of travels, travel time, and operation information of the miningmachine travelling the latest first route is updated when the secondroute is determined to be identical to a plurality of the first routes.

In the present invention, it is preferable that when the second route isdetermined to be not identical to the first route, the plurality ofpieces of position information corresponding to the second route is usedto generate new route information that includes the plurality of nodesand at least one of the links related to the second route.

In the present invention, it is preferable that when the second route isnot identical to the first route and a part of the position informationgroup corresponds with positions of a part of the nodes included inexisting route information, the new route information is generated byusing the node whose position corresponds with the part of the positioninformation group.

In the present invention, it is preferable that at least one of thenumber of travels, the travel time, and the operation information of themining machine travelling a specific section of the first route isupdated when the second route is determined to be identical to the firstroute, a specific section of the second route corresponds with thespecific section of the first route, or a new specific section isgenerated.

In the present invention, it is preferable that one of the nodes towhich three or more of the links are connected is determined to be anintersection.

In the present invention, it is preferable that correspondence betweenthe plurality of pieces of position information and each of the firstposition information, the second position information, and the thirdposition information is determined by using the first position, thesecond position, and the third position on the first route that areregistered in a predetermined database for less than a predeterminedperiod of time.

The present invention can improve the accuracy in distinguishing andspecifying the route travelled by the mining machine in the mine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a site at which a mining machinemanagement system according to the present embodiment is applied.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a management device included inthe mining machine management system according to the presentembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a dump truck.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating an in-vehicleinformation collection device and a peripheral device thereof.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a route travelled by adump truck.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure in a routespecification process according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating information on a registered route.

FIG. 8 is a diagram used to describe a method of determiningcorrespondence between position information on an actual travel routeand a passing position on the registered route.

FIG. 9 is a diagram used to describe an additional matter provided todetermine the correspondence between the position information on theactual travel route and the passing position on the registered route.

FIG. 10 is a diagram used to describe an additional matter provided todetermine the correspondence between the position information on theactual travel route and the passing position on the registered route.

FIG. 11 is a diagram used to describe determination of correspondencebetween position information on an actual travel route and a passingposition on a registered route in a specific section.

FIG. 12 is a diagram used to describe a case where a dischargingposition is not newly registered.

FIG. 13 is a diagram used to describe a case where the dischargingposition is not newly registered.

FIG. 14 is a diagram used to describe a case where a loading position isnot newly registered.

FIG. 15 is a diagram used to describe a case where the loading positionis not newly registered.

FIG. 16 is a diagram used to describe a case where the dischargingposition is newly registered.

FIG. 17 is a diagram used to describe a case where the dischargingposition is newly registered.

FIG. 18 is a diagram used to describe a case where the loading positionis newly registered.

FIG. 19 is a diagram used to describe a case where the loading positionis newly registered.

FIG. 20-1 is a diagram used to describe a process of extracting apassing position on a registered route that corresponds with positioninformation on an actual travel route.

FIG. 20-2 is a diagram used to describe a method of newly generating apassing position.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a combination of apassing position WP and a link including a specific section in a part ofnew route information.

FIG. 22 is a diagram used to describe an example of a method ofgenerating a specific section.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating classification by a slope angle usedin generating the specific section.

FIG. 24 is a diagram used to describe an example of a method ofgenerating the specific section.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a state where identical passingpositions in a plurality of pieces of route information are notintegrated.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a state where the identical passingpositions in the plurality of pieces of route information areintegrated.

FIG. 27 is a diagram used to describe aggregation of the specificsection.

FIG. 28 is a diagram used to describe aggregation of the specificsection.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Modes for carrying out the present invention (embodiments) will bedescribed in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a site at which a mining machinemanagement system according to the present embodiment is applied. Amining machine management system 1 manages operation of a miningmachine, evaluates productivity or operating technique of an operatorwho operates the mining machine, performs preventive maintenance and anabnormality diagnosis on a dump truck, and the like. The managementsystem 1 thus specifies a route travelled by a dump truck 20 and storesthe route as route information. A travel route hereinafter includes aroute travelled by the dump truck 20 and a location at which the dumptruck 20 stops. The travel route is hereinafter also referred to as aroute as appropriate.

The mining machine is a general term for machines used in a variety ofoperations performed in a mine. The dump truck 20 is illustrated in thepresent embodiment as an example of a transporting vehicle that is atype of the mining machine, where the dump truck transports crushedstones, or sediment or rocks produced at the time of mining the crushedstones, as a load. The mining machine of the present embodiment ishowever not limited to the dump truck 20. The mining machine accordingto the present embodiment may be an excavator or an electric excavatorthat functions as an excavating machine mining the crushed stones andthe like, or may be a wheel loader, for example. While the dump truck 20in the present embodiment is a manned mining machine that travels orunloads by an operation of the operator, the dump truck 20 is notlimited to such machine. The dump truck 20 may be an unmanned dumptruck, the operation of which is managed by the management system 1, forexample.

A loading machine 4 such as the excavator loads the rocks or sedimentonto the dump truck 20 at a location where a loading operation isperformed (hereinafter referred to as a loading station) LPA in a mine.The dump truck 20 then discharges the loaded rocks or sediment at alocation where a discharge operation of the load is performed(hereinafter referred to as a discharge station) DPA. The dump truck 20moves between the loading station LPA and the discharge station DPAwhile travelling routes Rg and Rr.

<Overview of Mining Machine Management System>

The mining machine management system (hereinafter referred to as amanagement system as appropriate) 1 is configured such that a managementdevice 10 collects operation information, which includes informationpertaining to the position of the dump truck 20 serving as the miningmachine, from the dump truck 20 by means of wireless communication. Themanagement device 10 is set up in a management facility of a mine, forexample, unlike the dump truck 20 which is a moving body. The managementdevice 10 is thus considered not to move in principle. The informationcollected by the management device 10 is a piece of informationpertaining to an operating state of the dump truck 20 (hereinafterreferred to as operation information as appropriate) and corresponds toat least one of position information (coordinates including latitude,longitude, and altitude) pertaining to the position of the dump truck 20and travel time, a travel distance, an engine water temperature,presence of abnormality, a site of abnormality, a fuel consumption rate,and a load amount of the dump truck, for example. The operationinformation is mainly used to generate a track map of the dump truck 20as well as to perform track mapping, driving evaluation, preventivemaintenance, abnormality diagnosis and the like of the dump truck 20.The operation information is therefore useful in meeting the needs suchas increasing productivity of a mine and improving operation in themine.

In order to collect the operation information of the dump truck 20operating in the mine, the management device 10 is connected to amanagement-side wireless communication device 18 which has an antenna18A. The dump truck 20 is equipped with an in-vehicle wirelesscommunication device and an antenna 28A in order to transmit theoperation information and perform intercommunication with the managementdevice 10. The in-vehicle wireless communication device will bedescribed later on. In addition, the dump truck 20 can measure its ownposition by receiving radio wave from GPS (Global Positioning System)satellites 5A, 5B, and 5C with a GPS antenna 28B. Note that the ownposition may be measured not only by the GPS satellite but by anotherpositioning satellite. In other words, the position need only bemeasured by a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).

The output of radio wave transmitted from the antenna 28A of the dumptruck 20 does not have a communicable range large enough to cover theentire mine. Moreover, the radio wave transmitted from the antenna 28Acannot be transmitted to a distant place beyond an obstacle such as ahigh mountain due to an issue related to the wavelength. Suchcommunication failure is certainly resolved to be able to have a widercommunicable range and eliminate an incommunicable location by using awireless communication device that can output radio wave at high power.It is however required to keep down the cost of a repeater and acommunication device in the mine that is extensive, and to cope with asituation where one cannot expect to secure well-maintainedcommunication infrastructure depending on an area in which the mine islocated. As a result, the management system 1 employs a wireless systemsuch as a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) that can form an informationnetwork within a limited range. The wireless LAN can realize theintercommunication between the mining machine and the managementfacility (the management device 10) at low cost, but the problem ofcommunication failure still needs to be solved.

The coverage of radio wave transmitted from the antenna 28A of the dumptruck 20 is limited. Therefore, it is difficult for the management-sidewireless communication device 18 to receive the radio wave transmittedfrom the dump truck 20 when the dump truck 20 and the management device10 are distant from each other or when there is an obstacle such as amountain M present between the two. The management system 1 thusincludes a repeater 3 which relays the radio wave transmitted from theantenna 28A of the dump truck 20 and transmits the radio wave to themanagement-side wireless communication device 18. The management device10 can collect the operation information, via wireless communication,from the dump truck 20 operating at a position far from the managementdevice by installing the repeater 3 at a plurality of predeterminedsites within the mine.

A midway repeater 6 is disposed between the repeater 3 and themanagement-side wireless communication device 18 to relay the radio wavebetween the two when the repeater 3 is distant from the management-sidewireless communication device 18. The midway repeater 6 in the presentembodiment only performs relay between the repeater 3 and themanagement-side wireless communication device 18, and does not relay theradio wave transmitted from the antenna 28A of the dump truck 20. Themidway repeater 6 in the present embodiment is adapted to not relay theradio wave from anywhere but the corresponding repeater 3. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, for example, there is only one midway repeater 6that relays the radio wave from the repeater 3 at a fueling station 2.While it is represented in FIG. 1 that the midway repeater 6 is inone-to-one relationship with a single repeater 3, each midway repeater 6can relay the radio wave transmitted from a plurality of correspondingrepeaters 3.

A predetermined region centered around the installation location of therepeater 3 (a region represented by a circle in FIG. 1) corresponds to arange, namely a communicable range 7, within which a first wirelesscommunication device (an in-vehicle wireless communication device 27 tobe described; refer to FIG. 3) mounted in the dump truck 20 can mutuallyperform wireless communication with the repeater 3. The dump truck 20present within the communicable range 7 can mutually perform wirelesscommunication with the management-side wireless communication device 18through the repeater 3 or the like.

When the management device 10 collects the operation information fromthe dump truck 20 via wireless communication, the dump truck 20sometimes moves out of the communicable range 7 by travelling whiletransmitting the operation information or the like to the managementdevice 10. As a result, the communication is interrupted in some casesbefore the first wireless communication device mounted in the dump truck20 transmits all the operation information that is to be transmitted tothe management device 10.

In order to avoid the interruption of communication, it is preferredthat the dump truck 20 stay within the communicable range 7 while themanagement device 10 receives the operation information and the like or,in other words, while the dump truck 20 transmits the operationinformation and the like. It is therefore preferred to receive the radiowave from the antenna 28A of the dump truck 20 which is at a locationwhere the dump truck 20 is at a stop such that the dump truck 20 surelystays within the communicable range 7. Accordingly, it is preferred toperform control such that the dump truck 20 transmits the operationinformation and the like to the repeater 3 at a location where the dumptruck 20 is at a stop surely within the communicable range 7 for acertain period of time (time long enough to be able to transmit all theoperation information and the like to be transmitted, or longer).

The repeater 3 is installed at the fueling station 2, for example, inthe present embodiment. The dump truck 20 is expected to stop for acertain period of time at the fueling station 2 in order to fill thedump truck 20 with a fuel which drives an engine of the truck. Thismeans that the dump truck 20 can remain surely within the communicablerange 7 while the management device 10 surely receives the operationinformation and the like from the dump truck 20 being fueled. As aresult, the management device 10 can surely collect the operationinformation and the like from the dump truck 20 via wirelesscommunication. The mine being extensive, the present embodiment isadapted to collect the operation information from the dump truck 20 inoperation by disposing the repeater 3 in the vicinity of a travel routeof the dump truck 20 besides the fueling station 2. Now, the managementdevice 10 will be described in more detail.

<Management Device>

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the management device includedin the mining machine management system according to the presentembodiment. The management device 10 includes a management-sideprocessing device 12, a management-side storage device 13, and aninput/output unit (I/O) 15. The input/output unit 15 of the managementdevice 10 is further connected to a display device 16, an input device17, the management-side wireless communication device 18, and an outputdevice 19. The management device 10 is a computer, for example. Themanagement-side processing device 12 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit),for example. The management-side storage device 13 is a RAM (RandomAccess Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory or a hard diskdrive, or a combination of these. The input/output unit 15 is used toinput/output information (used as an interface) between themanagement-side processing device 12 and the display device 16, theinput device 17, the management-side wireless communication device 18and the output device 19 that are externally connected to themanagement-side processing device 12.

The management-side processing device 12 implements a mining machinemanagement method according to the present embodiment. Themanagement-side processing device 12 includes a route determination unit12 a, a slope analysis unit 12 b, a region specification unit 12 c, aroute information generation unit 12 d, and a route analysis unit 12 e.The route determination unit 12 a as a determination unit specifies aroute that is actually travelled by the dump truck 20 in the mine bydetermining whether or not the route corresponds with an existing travelroute. The existing travel route is a route travelled by the dump truck20 in the past or a preset route.

The slope analysis unit 12 b analyzes the route travelled by the dumptruck 20 and divides the route by every predetermined range of slope.The region specification unit 12 c specifies the loading station LPA atwhich the dump truck 20 is loaded and the discharge station DPA at whichthe dump truck is unloaded. The route information generation unit 12 dgenerates the route information as a piece of information pertaining tothe position of the route travelled by the dump truck 20. The routeinformation is a piece of information of a first route that is a routetaken by the dump truck 20 departing a predetermined first position,passing a second position at which a load (crushed stones, or sedimentor rocks produced at the time of mining the crushed stones) is loaded,and moving to a third position at which the dump truck is unloaded. Theroute information includes a plurality of nodes present at everypredetermined distance and a link which connects the nodes adjacent toeach other. The route analysis unit 12 e analyzes the route travelled bythe dump truck 20 to extract a part having the identical characteristicor integrate the extracted part, for example. The characteristic is aslope, an orientation angle, and the like. These functions are realizedwhen the management-side processing device 12 reads a computer programcorresponding to each function from the management-side storage device13 and executes the program.

The management-side storage device 13 stores a variety of computerprograms used by the management-side processing device 12 to execute avariety of processes. The computer program stored in the management-sidestorage device 13 in the present embodiment includes a route specifyingcomputer program which specifies the route travelled by the dump truck20 by implementing the mining machine management method according to thepresent embodiment, an operation information collecting computer programwhich collects the operation information and the like of the dump truck20, and a computer program which realizes a variety of analyses based onthe operation information and the like, for example.

The management-side storage device 13 stores an LP/DP database 14RD, aroute-specific WP database 14WP, a route-specific specific sectiondatabase 14SC, a registered route database 14CS, an operationinformation database 14I and the like. The position information on eachof the loading station LPA and the discharge station DPA of the dumptruck 20 is described in the LP/DP database 14RD. The positioninformation on the route that has been or is travelled by the dump truck20 is described in the route-specific WP database 14WP. Described in theroute-specific specific section database 14SC is a piece of informationon a specific section as a part of the route having the identicalcharacteristic, the route having been or being travelled by the dumptruck 20. Described in the registered route database 14CS is a piece ofinformation including position information on the route travelled by thedump truck 20 operating in the mine or on a preset route to be travelledby the dump truck 20 in the mine. The operation information collectedfrom the dump truck 20 is described in the operation informationdatabase 14I. The route-specific WP database 14WP and the route-specificspecific section database 14SC include aggregated data of thecoordinates including the latitude, the longitude, and the altitude ofthe position information.

The management device 10 in the present embodiment determines whether ornot the first route and a second route are identical based on at leastthe position information included in the first route stored in themanagement-side storage device 13 and a position information group ofthe second route obtained from a plurality of pieces of positioninformation of the dump truck 20 while the dump truck 20 is inoperation. The management device 10 specifies the second route that isthe route travelled by the dump truck 20 in this manner. As describedabove, the first route is the route taken by the dump truck 20 when itdeparts from the predetermined first position, moves to the loadingstation LPA as the second position at which the truck is loaded, andmoves to the discharge station DPA as the third position at which thetruck is unloaded. The position information of the first route isdescribed in the LP/DP database 14RD and the route-specific WP database14WP.

The predetermined first position at which the dump truck 20 startstravelling (hereinafter referred to as a travel starting position asappropriate) is the discharge station DPA, for example. The travelstarting position and the discharge station DPA at which the dump truck20 discharges the load loaded at the loading station LPA may be the sameor different when the travel starting position of the dump truck 20 isthe discharge station DPA.

The display device 16 is a liquid crystal display, for example, anddisplays information required in collecting the position information oroperation information of the dump truck 20. The input device 17 is akeyboard, a touch panel, or a mouse, for example, and inputs informationrequired in collecting the position information or operation informationof the dump truck 20. The management-side wireless communication device18 includes the antenna 18A and mutually performs wireless communicationwith the in-vehicle wireless communication device 27 (refer to FIG. 3)of the dump truck 20 through the repeater 3. The output device 19 is aprinting device (a printer), for example. The output device 19 printsand outputs a report or the like prepared by the management device 10.The output device 19 may be further adapted to output voice according toreport content to be described later on. Next, the dump truck 20 will bedescribed in more detail.

<Dump Truck>

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the structure of the dump truck 20. Thedump truck 20 travels with the load loaded thereon and discharges theload at a desired location. The dump truck 20 includes a vehicle body21, a vessel 22, a vehicle wheel 23, a suspension cylinder 24, arotational speed sensor 25, a suspension pressure sensor (hereinafterreferred to as a pressure sensor as appropriate) 26, the in-vehiclewireless communication device 27 to which the antenna 28A is connected,a position information detection device (a GPS receiver in the presentembodiment) 29 to which the GPS antenna 28B is connected, and anin-vehicle information collection device 30. Note that the dump truck 20includes a variety of mechanisms and functions included in a generalconveying machine in addition to the aforementioned structure. While therigid dump truck 20 is illustrated as an example in the presentembodiment, the dump truck 20 may also be an articulated dump truck, thebody of which is divided into a front part and a rear part that arejoined by a free articulation.

The vehicle wheel 23 of the dump truck 20 is driven when aninternal-combustion engine (hereinafter referred to as an engine 34G asappropriate) such as a diesel engine drives a drive shaft 34DS through atorque converter 34TC and a transmission 34TM. The dump truck 20 thusadopts what is called a mechanical drive system but the drive system ofthe dump truck 20 is not limited to this. The dump truck 20 may adoptwhat is called an electrical drive system instead. The vessel 22functions as a loading space where the load is loaded, and is disposedin an upper part of the vehicle body 21 to be able to freely move up anddown. The crushed stones being mined or rocks or soil are loaded as theload onto the vessel 22 by the loading machine 4 such as the excavator.

The vehicle wheel 23 formed of a tire and a wheel is rotatably mountedto the vehicle body 21 and is driven by the power transmitted from thevehicle body 21 as described above. The suspension cylinder 24 isdisposed between the vehicle wheel 23 and the vehicle body 21. Thevehicle body 21, the vessel 22, and a load generated according to themass of the load being loaded onto the truck act upon the vehicle wheel23 through the suspension cylinder 24.

The rotational speed sensor 25 measures a vehicle speed by detecting therotational speed of the drive shaft 34DS which drives the vehicle wheel23. The interior of the suspension cylinder 24 is filled with hydraulicfluid so that the cylinder expands/contracts according to the weight ofthe load. The pressure sensor 26 detects the load acting upon thesuspension cylinder 24. The pressure sensor 26 is installed in eachsuspension cylinder 24 of the dump truck 20 and can measure the mass(load amount) of the load by detecting the pressure on the hydraulicfluid in the suspension cylinder.

The GPS antenna 28B receives radio wave output from the plurality of GPSsatellites 5A, 5B, and 5C (refer to FIG. 1) configuring the GPS (GlobalPositioning System). The GPS antenna 28B outputs the radio wave beingreceived to the position information detection device 29. The positioninformation detection device 29 serving as a position informationdetection unit converts the radio wave received by the GPS antenna 28Binto an electric signal and finds the position information of the dumptruck 20 by calculating (measuring) the position information of thedevice itself, namely, the position of the dump truck 20. The positioninformation pertains to the position of the dump truck 20 and includesthe coordinates of the latitude, the longitude, and the altitude. Aplurality of pieces of position information, acquired by the positioninformation detection device 29 based on the lapse of time and arrangedin time series, becomes the route travelled by the dump truck 20.

The in-vehicle wireless communication device 27 performs wirelesscommunication mutually with the repeater 3 or the antenna 18A of themanagement facility illustrated in FIG. 1 through the antenna 28A. Thein-vehicle wireless communication device 27 is connected to thein-vehicle information collection device 30. Such structure allows thein-vehicle information collection device 30 to transmit/receive eachinformation through the antenna 28A. The in-vehicle informationcollection device 30 and a peripheral device thereof will now bedescribed.

<In-Vehicle Information Collection Device and Peripheral Device Thereof>

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating the in-vehicleinformation collection device and the peripheral device thereof. Thein-vehicle information collection device 30 included in the dump truck20 is connected to an in-vehicle storage device 31, the in-vehiclewireless communication device 27, and the position information detectiondevice 29. The in-vehicle information collection device 30 is furtherconnected with a state acquisition device. The in-vehicle informationcollection device 30 is a computer in which a CPU (Central ProcessingUnit) is combined with a memory, for example.

The in-vehicle information collection device 30 is a device whichacquires and collects information on various operating states of thedump truck 20 serving as the mining machine. The state acquisitiondevice is the pressure sensor 26 installed in the suspension cylinder24, various other sensors, an engine control device 32A, a travelcontrol device 32B, a hydraulic pressure control device 32C, a driver IDacquisition device 38, and a tilt sensor (clinometer) 39, for example.The in-vehicle information collection device 30 acquires the informationon the various operating states of the dump truck 20 from these stateacquisition devices and collects these pieces of acquired information asthe operation information.

The in-vehicle information collection device 30 can acquire informationindicating the fuel injection quantity by acquiring a control amount ofa fuel injector (FI) 34F from the engine control device 32A, forexample. Information pertaining to fuel efficiency can be obtained fromthe information indicating the fuel injection quantity. The in-vehicleinformation collection device 30 can further acquire informationindicating an operated amount of an accelerator 33A through the enginecontrol device 32A. The operating state of a driver driving the dumptruck 20 can be grasped by the information indicating the operatedamount exerted to the accelerator 33A by the driver of the dump truck20. The in-vehicle information collection device 30 can further acquirevarious pieces of information such as speed, coolant temperature, andlubricant pressure of the engine (EG) 34G from the engine control device32A. The information on the speed of the engine (EG) 34G is acquiredfrom the speed detected by a speed sensor (not shown) or the likeattached to an output shaft of the engine (EG) 34G, while the variouspieces of information such as the coolant temperature and the lubricantpressure are acquired by a temperature sensor or a pressure sensor notshown.

The in-vehicle information collection device 30 can obtain variouspieces of information of a travelling device 37 from the travel controldevice 32B. The dump truck 20 adopting the mechanical drive system inthe present embodiment, the travelling device 37 includes the torqueconverter TC and the transmission TM driven by the engine 34Gillustrated in FIG. 2 as well as the drive shaft 34DS which transmitsdriving power from the transmission 34TM to the vehicle wheel 23illustrated in FIG. 3. The various pieces of information of thetravelling device 37 includes a speed stage shifting state and outputshaft speed of the transmission 34TM described above as well as thespeed of the drive shaft 34DS, for example. The in-vehicle informationcollection device 30 can further grasp the operating state of the driverdriving the dump truck 20 by acquiring an operated position or anoperated amount of a shift lever 33B through the travel control device32B. The shift lever 33B is used when the driver instructs the travelcontrol device 32B to move the dump truck 20 forward or backward or tochange the travelling speed stage.

The in-vehicle information collection device 30 can further acquire anopen/closed state of a hydraulic fluid control valve (CV) 35 from thehydraulic pressure control device 32C. In this example, the hydraulicfluid control valve 35 supplies hydraulic fluid ejected from an oil pump(OP) 34P to a hoist cylinder 36 (a hydraulic cylinder) which moves thevessel 22 up and down, and discharges the hydraulic fluid from the hoistcylinder 36, the oil pump being driven by the operation of the engine34G. The in-vehicle information collection device 30 can therefore graspthe up-down state of the vessel 22 based on the open/closed state of thehydraulic fluid control valve 35. The vessel 22 moves up and down by adump lever 33C operated by the driver. Accordingly, the in-vehicleinformation collection device 30 can also grasp the up-down state of thevessel 22 by acquiring an operated amount or an operated position of thedump lever 33C through the hydraulic pressure control device 32C.

The in-vehicle information collection device 30 can grasp the weight ofthe load being loaded onto the vessel 22 by acquiring the pressureacting upon the hydraulic fluid in the suspension cylinder 24, thepressure being detected by the pressure sensor 26. The mass of the load(load amount) can be found based on a measured value indicated by thepressure sensor 26 (four pressure sensors 26 when there are four vehiclewheels 23) which is included in each suspension cylinder 24 attached toeach vehicle wheel 23 of the dump truck 20. Moreover, the change ofpressure acting upon the hydraulic fluid in the suspension cylinder 24as time elapses allows one to know whether the load is loaded onto thevessel 22 or being discharged or has been discharged from the vessel 22of the dump truck 20, the pressure being detected by the pressure sensor26.

One can determine that the load is loaded at the loading station LPAwhen the pressure detected by the pressure sensor 26 increases andexceeds a predetermined value (such as a value corresponding to half aprescribed load capacity of the dump truck 20), for example. On theother hand, one can determine that the load is discharged (or has beendischarged) at the discharge station DPA when the pressure detected bythe pressure sensor 26 decreases and falls below a predetermined value(such as a value corresponding to one-fourth of the prescribed loadcapacity of the dump truck 20). In addition to using the pressuredetected by the pressure sensor 26, the operating state (the operatedposition or the operated amount) of the dump lever 33C or the positioninformation of the dump truck 20 and the like can be used at the sametime to determine whether the load is discharged or loaded, so that theloaded state of the load onto the vessel 22 can be determined withimproved accuracy. Note that the determination related to thedischarging operation may be made solely based on the operating state ofthe dump lever 33C.

The driver ID acquisition device 38 is a device which acquires a driverID specifying the driver of the dump truck 20. The dump truck 20 issometimes driven by a plurality of drivers taking turns. The driver IDcan be acquired from an ID key (an electronic key in which personalidentification information is stored) of an individual driver or an IDcard (a card in which the personal identification information is stored)of the individual driver, for example. In this case, a magnetic readingdevice, a wireless communication device or the like is employed as thedriver ID acquisition device 38. The driver ID can also be acquired byincluding, as the driver ID acquisition device 38, a fingerprintauthentication device and performing fingerprint authentication betweena fingerprint of the driver stored in advance and a fingerprint of theindividual driver. Moreover, the driver ID can be acquired by verifyingID information (personal identification information such as a personalidentification number) of the individual driver, who inputs his own IDinformation by an input device, with ID information that is stored inadvance. The driver ID acquisition device 38 is an ID key-/IDcard-reading device, the fingerprint authentication device, or an IDinformation input device as described above, and may be provided in thevicinity of a driver seat in a cab of the dump truck 20 or at anylocation of the vehicle body 21 that the driver approaches whenaccessing the cab. Note that the driver ID of the driver getting on eachdump truck 20 is in some cases transmitted from the management device 10to the dump truck 20 via wireless communication according to a dailyproduction schedule in the mine. In this case, the in-vehicle wirelesscommunication device 27 also serves as the driver ID acquisition device38. One can specify which driver is driving the dump truck 20 by thedriver ID acquired by the driver ID acquisition device 38.

The tilt sensor 39 detects the tilt of the dump truck 20. The tiltsensor 39 can detect a tilt in a longitudinal direction as well as awidth direction of the dump truck 20. The slope or ruggedness of a roadsurface travelled by the dump truck 20 can thus be detected by the tiltsensor 39.

The in-vehicle storage device 31 is formed of a RAM (Random AccessMemory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory or hard disk drive, ora combination of these. The in-vehicle storage device 31 stores thecomputer program in which a command provided for the in-vehicleinformation collection device 30 to collect the operation information isdescribed as well as various set values to operate the mining machinemanagement system 1. The in-vehicle information collection device 30reads the computer program, acquires the operation information from eachstate acquisition device at a predetermined timing, and temporarilystores the information in the in-vehicle storage device 31. At thistime, the in-vehicle information collection device 30 may performstatistical processing to find a mean, a mode, or a standard deviationof information under the same item.

The in-vehicle storage device 31 stores as the operation information theposition information, clinometer information, time information,discharge information, loading information, fuel efficiency information,operation history information, event information, and the like. Theevent information corresponds to abnormal driving information, vehicleerror information, specific drive operation information, and the like.These pieces of operation information stored in the in-vehicle storagedevice 31 are illustrated as an example and are not limited to what isdescribed. The position information, the clinometer information, thedischarge information, the loading information, the fuel efficiencyinformation, the operation history information, the event information,and the like are stored in the in-vehicle storage device 31 inassociation with time at which each of these occurs (or is acquired bythe in-vehicle information collection device 30). The in-vehicleinformation collection device 30 receives, through the in-vehiclewireless device 27, a command signal indicating a request from themanagement device 10 illustrated in FIG. 2 and transmits, through thein-vehicle wireless communication device 27 as well, the operationinformation stored in the in-vehicle storage device 31 to the managementdevice 10.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the route travelled bythe dump truck 20. The dump truck 20 travels toward the loading stationLPA after unloading at the discharge station DPA illustrated in FIG. 5.The loading mining machine such as the excavator loads the vessel 22 ofthe dump truck 20 having arrived at the loading station LPA. The loadeddump truck 20 then travels toward the discharge station DPA. The dumptruck 20 having arrived at the discharge station DPA unloads thereat.Now, a series of operations performed by the dump truck 20 departing forthe loading station LPA from a predetermined location, being loaded atthe loading station LPA, and arriving at the discharge station DPA to beunloaded is treated as a single cycle of a transporting operationperformed by the dump truck 20. The predetermined location from whichthe dump truck 20 departs for the loading station LPA is referred to asthe first position, the loading station LPA is referred to as the secondposition, and the position at which the truck is unloaded at thedischarge station DPA is referred to as the third position. The firstposition in the present embodiment may be a predetermined positionwithin the discharge station DPA or a predetermined position differentfrom the discharge station DPA.

Within a route (hereinafter referred to as an actual travel route, asappropriate) CSr travelled by the dump truck 20 in the single cycle ofthe transporting operation, a route taken by the dump truck 20 from atravel starting position SPr as the first position to a loading positionLPr as the second position at which the truck is loaded at the loadingstation LPA is referred to as an outbound route CSr1. Also within theactual travel route CSr, a route taken by the dump truck 20 from theloading position LPr as the second position to a discharging positionDPr as the third position at which the truck is unloaded at thedischarge station DPA is referred to as an inbound route CSr2. Theoutbound route CSr1 includes the travel starting position SPr as astarting point and the loading position LPr as an end point. The inboundroute CSr2 includes the loading position LPr as a starting point and thedischarging position DPr as an end point.

The position information detection device 29 mounted to the dump truck20 finds position information PI of the dump truck 20 while the dumptruck 20 departs the travel starting position SPr, arrives at theloading position LPr, and thereafter reaches the discharging positionDPr. The position information detection device 29 acquires currentposition information of the dump truck 20 every predetermined time (suchas one second) and stores the information in the in-vehicle storagedevice 31, for example. A group of a plurality of pieces of positioninformation PI (hereinafter referred to as a position information group,as appropriate) acquired by the position information detection device 29is included in the actual travel route CSr of the dump truck 20. As aresult, the actual travel route CSr can be represented by the pluralityof pieces of position information PI.

The actual travel route CSr in the present embodiment may be the firstroute (hereinafter referred to as a registered route, as appropriate)that is already stored (registered) in the management-side storagedevice 13 since the route is already travelled by another or the owndump truck 20 or is preset, or may be a route that the dump truck 20travels for the first time. The management-side processing device 12illustrated in FIG. 2 executes a route specification process accordingto the present embodiment and determines whether the actual travel routeCSr is the registered route, partially the registered route, or a newroute, for example. Next, an example of a process of specifying theroute travelled by the dump truck 20 (the route specification process)in the mining machine management method according to the presentembodiment will be described. The route specification process isexecuted by the management-side processing device 12 included in themanagement device 10 illustrated in FIG. 2 in the present embodiment,but may be executed by the in-vehicle information collection device 30illustrated in FIG. 4.

<Example of Route Specification Process>

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure in theroute specification process according to the present embodiment. In theroute specification process according to the present embodiment, themanagement-side processing device 12, more specifically the routedetermination unit 12 a acquires in step S101 the position informationPI of the actual travel route CSr travelled by the dump truck 20, theroute of which is to be specified, through the management-side wirelesscommunication device 18 as well as the in-vehicle wireless communicationdevice 27 and the position information detection device 29 illustratedin FIG. 4. The management-side processing device 12 acquires the actualtravel route CSr travelled by each dump truck 20 through the in-vehicleinformation collection device 30 and stores it in the management-sidestorage device 13, for example.

Next, the process proceeds to step S102 where the route determinationunit 12 a extracts, from the acquired position information PI, firstposition information corresponding to the travel starting position SPras the first position, second position information corresponding to theloading position LPr as the second position, and third positioninformation corresponding to the discharging position DPr as the thirdposition. The first position information can be an initial position ofthe position information PI included in the actual travel route CSr, forexample. Among the position information PI included in the actual travelroute CSr, the second position information can be a position at whichthe load amount obtained based on the pressure on the hydraulic fluid inthe suspension cylinder 24 is greater than or equal to a predeterminedvalue, for example, the pressure being detected by the pressure sensor26. Among the position information PI included in the actual travelroute CSr, the third position information can be a position at which thedump lever 33C illustrated in FIG. 4 is operated to the dischargingside.

The information on the load amount as well as the information that thedump lever 33C is operated to the discharging side as described aboveare included in the operation information of the dump truck 20 collectedby the in-vehicle information collection device 30 of the dump truck 20,for example. For example, the management-side processing device 12stores, into the management-side storage device 13 or the like, theinformation on the load amount as well as the information that the dumplever 33C is operated to the discharging side by associating eachinformation with the corresponding position information PI. As a result,the route determination unit 12 a can extract the travel startingposition SPr, the loading position LPr, and the discharging position DPrin step 3102.

Next, the process proceeds to step S103 where the route determinationunit 12 a determines, as a first condition, whether or not the firstposition information corresponding to the travel starting position SPr,the second position information corresponding to the loading positionLPr, and the third position information corresponding to the dischargingposition DPr that are extracted in step S102 correspond with the loadingposition (registered loading position) LP and the discharging positionDP in the registered route described in the LP/DP database 14RD of themanagement-side storage device 13. The information described in theLP/DP database 14RD of the management-side storage device 13 isgenerated by the management-side processing device 12, more specificallythe route information generation unit 12 d, based on the positioninformation included in the actual travel route CSr, namely theregistered route, that is already travelled by the dump truck 20. Theinformation on the registered route stored in the management-sidestorage device 13 will now be described.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the information on the registeredroute. A registered route CS includes an outbound route CS1 and aninbound route CS2. The outbound route CS1 has a travel starting positionSP1 as a starting point and a loading position LP1 as an end point. Theinbound route CS2 has the loading position LP1 as a starting point and adischarging position DP1 as an end point. The registered route CSincludes the travel starting position SP1, the loading position LP1, thedischarging position DP1, and a plurality of passing positions WP1(WPsg), WP2 to WP9 (WPeg), WP10 (WPsb), and WP11 to WP18 (WPeb) as aplurality of nodes, and links LK1 and LK2 to LK20 connecting thesenodes. In the registered route CS, the travel starting position SP1corresponds to the first position, the loading position LP1 correspondsto the second position, and the discharging position DP1 corresponds tothe third position.

Each node, namely, each of the travel starting position SP1, the loadingposition LP1, the discharging position DP1 and the plurality of passingpositions WP1 (WPsg) and WP2 to WP9 (WPeg), corresponds to each positioninformation PT included in the actual travel route CSr. The node is alocation indicated by a predetermined coordinate including the latitude,the longitude, and the altitude on the registered route CS. Each of thelinks LK1 and LK2 to LK20 connects the nodes adjacent to each other. Theoutbound route CS1 of the registered route CS illustrated in FIG. 7includes the travel starting position SP1, the loading position LP1, theplurality of passing positions WP1 and WP2 to WP9 located therebetween,and the links LK1 and LK2 to LK10.

The inbound route CS2 includes the loading position LP1, the dischargingposition DP1, the plurality of passing positions WP10 and WP11 to WP18located therebetween, and the links LK11 and LK12 to LK20. Theregistered route CS is a route actually travelled by the dump truck 20when it performs the single cycle of transporting operation. In thiscase, the travel starting position SP1 corresponds to a dischargingposition DP0 at which the dump truck 20 is actually unloaded within adischarge station (hereinafter referred to as a first discharge station,as appropriate) DPA0 where the truck is unloaded before heading to theloading position LP1.

The discharge station DPA0 in the present embodiment is a range (a firstpredetermined range or a first range on the discharge side) SPC1 with apredetermined radius RD centered around the travel starting positionSP1. Likewise, a discharge station (hereinafter referred to as a seconddischarge station, as appropriate) DPA1 is a range (a secondpredetermined range or the first range on the discharge side) with apredetermined radius RD centered around the discharging position DP1 atwhich the dump truck 20 loaded at the loading position LP1 is unloaded.A loading station LPA1 is a range (a first range or a first range on theloading side) with a predetermined radius RL centered around the loadingposition (registered loading position) LP1. Accordingly, in the presentembodiment, the shape of each of the discharge station DPA0, thedischarge station DPA1, and the loading station LPA1 is a circle but isnot limited thereto.

That is, the predetermined range (the first predetermined range) SPC1around the travel starting position SP1 serves as the discharge stationDPA0. Likewise, the predetermined range (the second predetermined range)around the discharging position DP1 at which the dump truck 20 loaded atthe loading position LP1 is unloaded serves as the discharge station(hereinafter referred to as the second discharge station, asappropriate) DPA1. Moreover, the predetermined range around the loadingposition LP1 serves as the loading station LPA1.

The travel starting position SP1 (the discharging position DP0) is arepresentative position representing the discharge station DPA0, whilethe discharging position DP1 is a representative position representingthe discharge station DPA1. As described later on, the travel startingposition SP1 (the discharging position DP0) and the discharging positionDP1 change as the information on the position at which the dump truck 20is unloaded accumulates. The loading position LP1 changes according tothe information on the position at which the dump truck 20 is loaded.

The registered route CS includes the node or the passing positions WP1and WP2 to WP18 at every predetermined distance. The predetermineddistance equals 100 m, for example, but is not limited thereto in thepresent embodiment. The passing position WP1 (WPsg) closest to thedischarge station DPA0 on the outbound route CS1 is set outside thedischarge station DPA0, while the passing position WP18 (WPeb) closestto the discharge station DPA1 on the inbound route CS2 is set outsidethe discharge station DPA1. The passing position WP9 (WPeg) closest tothe loading station LPA1 on the outbound route CS1 is set outside theloading station LPA1, while the passing position WP10 (WPsb) closest tothe loading station LPA1 on the inbound route CS2 is set outside theloading station LPA1. In other words, the passing positions WP1 and WP2to WP18 included in the registered route CS are set outside thedischarge stations DPA0 and DPA1 and the loading station LPA1.

The registered route CS includes a plurality of specific sections SC1and SC2 to SC17 in the example illustrated in FIG. 7. Each of thespecific sections SC1 and SC2 to SC17 is a part where a characteristicsuch as an orientation and a slope is considered identical within theregistered route CS. A specific section including a plurality of linksis a part within the registered route CS where a slope differencebetween the links adjacent to each other falls within a predeterminedvalue, an orientation difference between the links adjacent to eachother falls within a predetermined value, and there is no node to be anintersection between those links. For example, the adjacent three linksLK5, LK6, and LK7 included in the specific section SC5 have slopes thatfall within the range where they are considered approximately identicalor slopes, the difference in which falls within the predetermined value.The three links have orientations, the difference in which falls withinthe predetermined value, and have no intersection among the links. Themiddle nodes in the specific section SC5, namely, the passing positionsWP5 and WP6, are each indicated by a white circle in FIG. 7 and are notintersections. The same as the specific section SC5 can be said aboutthe specific section SC12. The specific section includes only one linkwhen the slope difference and the orientation difference between thelinks adjacent to each other do not satisfy the aforementionedcondition. The specific section SC2 corresponding to the link LK2 is aspecific section having one link, for example. As described later on,the number of travels, travel time, the operation information and thelike are aggregated in every specific section in the present embodiment.By using the specific sections SC1 and SC2 to SC17, the operating stateof the plurality of dump trucks 20 can be compared and evaluated whilehaving the state of the road surface travelled by the dump truck 20 asthe identical condition.

The loading position LP1 and the discharging positions DP0 and DP1 aredescribed in the LP/DP database 14RD stored in the management-sidestorage device 13. Also described in the LP/DP database 14RD in additionto the loading position LP1 and the discharging positions DP0 and DP1 isinformation on the ranges (the discharge stations DPA0 and DPA1) withthe predetermined radius RD centered around each of the dischargingpositions DP0 and DP1 and the range (the loading station LPA1) with thepredetermined radius RL centered around the loading position LP1. Thepassing positions WP1 and WP2 to WP18 are described in theroute-specific WP database 14WP stored in the management-side storagedevice 13. The specific sections SC1 and SC2 to SC17 are described inthe route-specific specific section database 14SC stored in themanagement-side storage device 13. In specifying the actual travel routeCSr of the dump truck 20, the route determination unit 12 a acquires theinformation from the LP/DP database 14RD and the route-specific WPdatabase 14WP, and compares the information with the positioninformation PI included in the actual travel route CSr.

In step S103, the route determination unit 12 a acquires the loadingposition LP and the discharging position DP of the registered route CSfrom the LP/DP database 14RD included in the management-side storagedevice 13. The route determination unit 12 a then compares the loadingposition LP and the discharging position DP on the registered route CSbeing acquired with the first position information corresponding to thetravel starting position SPr, the second position informationcorresponding to the loading position LPr, and the third positioninformation corresponding to the discharging position DPr that areextracted in step S102. In the present embodiment, the area within therange with the predetermined radius RD centered around each of thedischarging positions DP (DP0 and DP1) corresponds to the dischargestations DPA0 and DPA1, respectively. The area within the range with thepredetermined radius RL centered around the loading position LPcorresponds to the loading station LPA1. Accordingly, the routedetermination unit 12 a determines that the first position informationcorresponds with the discharging position DP0 already registered in theLP/DP database 14RD when the first position information corresponding tothe travel starting position SPr and extracted in step S102 is locatedwithin the discharge station already registered, namely, the range SPC1with the predetermined radius RD centered around the dischargingposition DP (the discharging position DP0 in the example illustrated inFIG. 7) that is described in the LP/DP database 14RD. Likewise, theroute determination unit 12 a determines that the second positioninformation corresponds with the loading position LP1 already registeredin the LP/DP database 14RD when the second position informationcorresponding to the loading position LPr and extracted in step S102 islocated within the range with the predetermined radius RL centeredaround the loading position LP (the loading position LP1 in the exampleillustrated in FIG. 7). The route determination unit 12 a furtherdetermines that the third position information corresponds with thedischarging position DP1 already registered in the LP/DP database 14RDwhen the third position information corresponding to the dischargingposition DPr and extracted in step S102 is located within the range withthe predetermined radius RD centered around the discharging position DP(the discharging position DP1 in the example illustrated in FIG. 7).

The route determination unit 12 a searches for a route candidateidentical to the actual travel route CSr in step S105 when the firstposition information corresponding to the travel starting position SPr,the second position information corresponding to the loading positionLPr, and the third position information corresponding to the dischargingposition DPr that are extracted in step S102 correspond with the loadingposition LP and the discharging position DP of the registered route CSdescribed in the LP/DP database 14RD of the management-side storagedevice 13 (step S104; Yes). Described for each registered route CS inthe registered route database 14CS are the discharging position DP0 (thetravel starting position SP1) at the first discharge station DPA0, theloading position LP1, the discharging position DP1 at the seconddischarge station DPA1, the passing positions WP1, WP2 and the like, thelinks LK1, LK2 and the like that are all included in the registeredroute CS. From the registered route database 14CS of the management-sidestorage device 13, the route determination unit 12 a extracts, as theroute candidate identical to the actual travel route CSr, the registeredroute CS having the discharging position DP and the loading position LPthat correspond with the travel starting position SPr, the loadingposition LPr, and the discharging position DPr extracted in step S102,for example. A plurality of the registered routes CS is sometimesextracted to be the candidate.

The route determination unit 12 a then determines in step S106 whetheror not the route candidate exists. The route determination unit 12 aproceeds to step S107 when the route candidate exists. The routedetermination unit 12 a proceeds to step S115 when the route candidatedoes not exist. In step S107, the route determination unit 12 acalculates a travel distance travelled by the dump truck 20 on theactual travel route CSr and the registered route CS that is searched forand extracted in step S105. The travel distance is calculated for eachof the outbound route CSr1 and the inbound route CSr2. The routedetermination unit 12 a calculates the distance from the travel startingposition SPr to the loading position LPr as the travel distance on theoutbound route CSr1 of the actual travel route CSr. Moreover, the routedetermination unit 12 a calculates the distance from the loadingposition LPr to the discharging position DPr as the travel distance onthe inbound route CSr2 of the actual travel route CSr. The sum of thetravel distance on the outbound route CSr1 and the travel distance onthe inbound route CSr2 equals the travel distance on the actual travelroute CSr.

In calculating the travel distance on the outbound route CS1 of theregistered route CS, the route determination unit 12 a calculates thedistance from the passing position WP1 (WPsg) closest to the firstdischarge station DPA0 including the travel starting position SP1 to thepassing position WP9 (WPeg) closest to the loading station LPA1including the loading position LP1. In calculating the travel distanceon the inbound route CS2 of the registered route CS, the routedetermination unit 12 a calculates the distance from the passingposition WP10 (WPsb) closest to the loading station LPA1 including theloading position LP1 to the passing position WP18 (WPeb) closest to thesecond discharge station DPA1 including the discharging position DP1.The sum of the distance on the outbound route CS1 and the distance onthe inbound route CS2 equals the travel distance on the registered routeCS. The route determination unit 12 a calculates the travel distance foreach registered route CS when the plurality of registered routes CS isextracted to be the candidate.

Letting a distance difference ΔL be the absolute value of a differencebetween the travel distance on the actual travel route CSr and thetravel distance on the registered route CS, the route determination unit12 a compares the distance difference ΔL with a predetermined thresholdΔLc in step S108. As a result, the route determination unit 12 aproceeds to step S109 when it holds true as a second condition that thedistance difference ΔL is smaller than or equal to the predeterminedthreshold ΔLc, that is, the distance difference ΔL is within apredetermined range specified by the predetermined threshold ΔLc (stepS108; Yes).

Although not limited, the threshold ΔLc of the distance difference inthe present embodiment is approximately 200 m, for example. Each dumptruck 20 operating in the mine travels a different travel distance insome cases as a result of avoiding an obstacle or the like, even whenthe dump truck 20 travels the same route, for example. The distancedifference ΔL can be determined in consideration of an actual operatingcondition of the dump truck 20 in the mine by setting the ΔLc equal toapproximately 200 m.

In step S109, the route determination unit 12 a determines whether ornot the position information PI on the actual travel route CSrcorresponds with the passing position WP on the registered route CS tobe the candidate. More specifically, the route determination unit 12 adetermines whether or not the plurality of pieces of positioninformation PI as the position information group included in the actualtravel route CSr corresponds with the passing positions WP1 and WP2 toWP9 as the plurality of nodes located between the travel startingposition SP1 (the discharging position DP0) and the loading position LP1as well as the passing positions WP10 and WP11 to WP18 as the pluralityof nodes located between the loading position LP1 and the dischargingposition DP1 on the registered route CS. The route determination unit 12a determines whether the passing position WP corresponds with theposition information PT for each registered route CS when there existsthe plurality of registered routes CS to be the candidate.

FIG. 8 is a diagram provided to describe the method of determiningwhether the position information PI on the actual travel route CSrcorresponds with the passing position WP on the registered route CS.Reference numerals in FIG. 8 including j, j−1, and j+1 (where “j” is aninteger) attached to a reference numeral PI that indicates the positioninformation are provided to distinguish the plurality of pieces ofposition information PI. It is simply described as position informationPI when there is no need to distinguish the plurality of pieces ofposition information PI. In determining whether the position informationPI on the actual travel route CSr corresponds with the passing positionWP on the registered route CS to be the candidate, the routedetermination unit 12 a determines that the position information PIcorresponds with the passing position WP when at least one of theplurality of pieces of position information PI is located within apredetermined range WPC around the passing position WP. Three pieces ofposition information PIj−1, PIj, and PIj+1 on the actual travel routeCSr are located within the predetermined range WPC in the exampleillustrated in FIG. 8, whereby the route determination unit 12 adetermines that the position information PI on the actual travel routeCSr corresponds with the passing position WP on the registered route CSto be the candidate. The predetermined range WP in the presentembodiment is a range with a predetermined radius RWP centered aroundthe passing position WP. That is, the shape of the predetermined rangeWPC is a circle but is not limited thereto.

The dump truck 20 travels a track having a certain width in order to beable to pass by oncoming traffic, for example, when travelling in themine. The coordinate of the passing position WP and the positioninformation PI have an error in the position measured by the GPS sothat, when determining whether the position information PI correspondswith the passing position WP itself, there is a possibility that the twohardly correspond with each other not allowing the error in the positionmeasured by the GPS at the time the dump truck 20 travels. It is adaptedin the present embodiment that a third condition is satisfied when theposition information PI is located within the predetermined range WPCaround the passing position WP. The route determination unit 12 a canthus determine the correspondence between the passing position WP andthe position information PI in consideration of the width of the trackand the measurement error of the GPS that occurs at the time the dumptruck 20 travels. The predetermined radius RWP is determined inconsideration of the width of the track and the measurement error of theGPS that occurs at the time the dump truck 20 travels. The predeterminedradius RWP in the present embodiment is approximately 15 m to 30 m, forexample.

FIGS. 9 and 10 are diagrams each provided to describe an additionalmatter in determining the correspondence between the positioninformation PI on the actual travel route CSr and the passing positionWP on the registered route CS. In addition to determining whether or notthe position information PI on the actual travel route CSr is locatedwithin the predetermined range WPC around the passing position WP, thecorrespondence between the position information PI and the passingposition WP may be determined by using at least one of a travellingdirection and a loaded state of the dump truck 20 in the presentembodiment. As a result, the route determination unit 12 a can moreaccurately determine the correspondence between the two.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example where the correspondence between theposition information PI and the passing position WP is determined byusing the travelling direction of the dump truck 20. The outbound routeCS1 of the registered route CS is a route going from the travel startingposition SP1 to the loading position LP1, whereas the inbound route CS2is a route going from the loading position LP1 to the dischargingposition DP1. A normal travelling direction Va of the dump truck 20travelling the outbound route CS1 is directed from the travel startingposition SP1 toward the loading position LP1, while a normal travellingdirection Vb of the dump truck 20 travelling the inbound route CS2 isdirected from the loading position LP1 toward the discharging positionDP1. The travelling directions Va and Vb of the dump truck 20 can befound from at least two pieces of position information PI each acquiredat a different timing.

The normal travelling direction Va of the dump truck 20 at a passingposition WPa on the outbound route CS1 of the registered route CS isdirected from the travel starting position SP1 toward the loadingposition LP1. It is now considered a case where the position informationon the actual travel route CSr is located in the predetermined range WPCaround the passing position WPa on the outbound route CS1. In this case,the route determination unit 12 a determines that the positioninformation PI on the actual travel route CSr corresponds with thepassing position WPa on the registered route CS when the travellingdirection of the dump truck 20 at the passing position WPa is directedfrom the travel starting position SP1 toward the loading position LP1,the travelling direction being found from the position information PTincluded in the actual travel route CSr. On the other hand, the routedetermination unit 12 a determines that the position information PI onthe actual travel route CSr does not correspond with the passingposition WPa on the registered route CS when the travelling direction ofthe dump truck 20 at the passing position WPa is directed from theloading position LP toward the discharging position DP1, the travellingdirection being found from the position information PI included in theactual travel route CSr. The determination holds in the latter casebecause the travelling direction is not the normal, travelling directionof the dump truck 20 which travels the outbound route CS1.

The inbound route CS2 will now be described. The normal travellingdirection Vb of the dump truck 20 at a passing position WPb on theinbound route CS2 of the registered route CS is directed from theloading position LP1 toward the discharging position DP1. It is nowconsidered a case where the position information on the actual travelroute CSr is located in the predetermined range WPC around the passingposition WPb on the inbound route CS2. In this case, the routedetermination unit 12 a determines that the position information PT onthe actual travel route CSr corresponds with the passing position WPb onthe registered route CS when the travelling direction of the dump truck20 at the passing position WPb is directed from the loading position LP1toward the discharging position DP1, the travelling direction beingfound from the position information PI included in the actual travelroute CSr. On the other hand, the route determination unit 12 adetermines that the position information PI on the actual travel routeCSr does not correspond with the passing position WPb on the registeredroute CS when the travelling direction of the dump truck 20 at thepassing position WPb is directed from the travel starting position SP1toward the loading position LP1, the travelling direction being foundfrom the position information PI included in the actual travel routeCSr. The determination holds in the latter case because the travellingdirection is not the normal travelling direction of the dump truck 20which travels the inbound route CS2.

In the case where the travelling direction of the dump truck 20 foundfrom the position information PI on the actual travel route CSr isdifferent from the normal travelling direction on the registered routeCS, the route determination unit 12 a determines that the positioninformation PI does not correspond with the passing position WP evenwhen the position information PI is located within the predeterminedrange WPC around the passing position WP. As a result, the routedetermination unit 12 a can more accurately determine the correspondencebetween the position information PI on the actual travel route CSr andthe passing position WP on the registered route CS.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example where the correspondence between theposition information PI and the passing position WP is determined byusing the loaded state of the dump truck 20. The outbound route CS1 andthe inbound route CS2 on the registered route CS are as described above.The dump truck 20 travelling the outbound route CS1 is not usuallyloaded because the outbound route CS1 is the route taken to head for theloading position LP1. The dump truck 20 travelling the inbound route CS2is usually loaded because the inbound route CS2 is the route taken tohead from the loading position LP1 to the discharging position DP1.Therefore, the dump truck 20 travelling the outbound route CS1 and thedump truck 20 travelling the inbound route CS2 have a different amountof load. That is, one can determine whether the dump truck 20 istravelling the outbound route CS1 or the inbound route CS2 according tothe load amount. The load amount is found from the detected value of thepressure sensor 26 in the suspension cylinder 24 illustrated in FIG. 4,as described above.

The dump truck 20 at the passing position WPa on the outbound route CS1of the registered route CS is headed to the loading position LP1 in anunloaded state. It is now considered a case where the positioninformation on the actual travel route CSr is located in thepredetermined range WPC around the passing position WPa on the outboundroute CS1. In this case, the route determination unit 12 a determinesthat the position information PI on the actual travel route CSrcorresponds with the passing position WPa on the registered route CSwhen the load amount on the dump truck 20 is less than or equal to apredetermined value (E1 in FIG. 10), or when the load is absent. On theother hand, the route determination unit 12 a determines that theposition information PI on the actual travel route CSr does notcorrespond with the passing position WPa on the registered route CS whenthe load amount on the dump truck 20 is greater than the predeterminedvalue (F1 in FIG. 10), or when the load is present. The determinationholds in the latter case by determining that the dump truck 20 is theone travelling the outbound route CS1 in an opposite direction or theone travelling a route different from the registered route CS becausethe dump truck 20 is loaded even though it is headed to the loadingposition LP1.

The inbound route CS2 will now be described. The dump truck 20 at thepassing position WPb on the inbound route CS2 of the registered route CSis headed to the discharging position DP1 in a loaded state. It is nowconsidered a case where the position information on the actual travelroute CSr is located in the predetermined range WPC around the passingposition WPb on the inbound route CS2. In this case, the routedetermination unit 12 a determines that the position information PI onthe actual travel route CSr corresponds with the passing position WPb onthe registered route CS when the load amount on the dump truck 20 isgreater than the predetermined value (F2 in FIG. 10). On the other hand,the route determination unit 12 a determines that the positioninformation PI on the actual travel route CSr does not correspond withthe passing position WPb on the registered route CS when the load amounton the dump truck 20 is less than or equal to the predetermined value(E2 in FIG. 10). The determination holds in the latter case bydetermining that the dump truck 20 is the one travelling the inboundroute CS2 in an opposite direction or the one travelling a routedifferent from the registered route CS because the dump truck 20 isunloaded even though it is headed to the discharging position DP1.

The route determination unit 12 a thus determines whether or not theposition information PI corresponds with the passing position WP basedon the loaded state of the dump truck 20 when the position informationPT is located within the predetermined range WPC around the passingposition WP. As a result, the route determination unit 12 a can moreaccurately determine the correspondence between the position informationPI on the actual travel route CSr and the passing position WP on theregistered route CS.

When the passing position WP corresponds with the position informationP1, the route determination unit 12 a corrects the passing position WPby using the position information PI located within the predeterminedrange WPC around the passing position WP. The route determination unit12 a in this case uses the position information PI that has the shortestdistance to the passing position WP that is not yet corrected. Among theplurality of pieces of position information PIj−1, PIj, and PIj+1 withinthe predetermined range WPC in the example illustrated in FIG. 8, theposition information PIj having the shortest distance to the uncorrectedpassing position WP is used to correct the passing position WP. Incorrecting the passing position WP, the route determination unit 12 adetermines the middle point of a distance Lmin between the passingposition WP and the position information PIj to be a corrected passingposition WPn, for example. The route determination unit 12 a rewritesthe uncorrected passing position WP that is described in theroute-specific WP database 14WP of the management-side storage device 13into the corrected passing position WPn. The route-specific WP database14WP is updated as a result. The error in the passing position WP can bemade small as the number of actual travel routes CSr increases bycorrecting the passing position WP with the use of the positioninformation PIj on the actual travel route CSr.

In step S110, the route determination unit 12 a determines whether ornot a correspondence ratio between the position information PI on theactual travel route CSr and the passing position WP on the registeredroute CS is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold MCc aswell as the passing position on each of both ends of the specificsection SC corresponds with the position information PI on the actualtravel route CSr in all specific sections SC as the third condition.Note that the third condition need only include, at least, that thecorrespondence ratio between the position information PI on the actualtravel route CSr and the passing position WP on the registered route CSis greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold MCc. Thecorrespondence ratio is the ratio of the passing position WP on theregistered route CS corresponding with the plurality of pieces ofposition information PI included in the actual travel route CSr. Thedump truck 20 sometimes detours around a part of a track on the sametrack depending on the condition of the track such as wet (rain) or dry,or whether or not there is an obstacle. There is also the problem ofmeasurement error of the GPS as described above. Accordingly, thepresent embodiment determines whether the third condition is satisfiedby using the predetermined threshold MCc in consideration of the detourand the error in the measured position. The route determination unit 12a can thus determine whether or not the actual travel route CSrcorresponds with the registered route CS in consideration of variationof the actual travel and the error in the measured position.

The correspondence ratio equals N1/N2 where N1 is the number of passingpositions WP on the registered route CS corresponding with the positioninformation PT on the actual travel route CSr and N2 is the number ofpassing positions WP included in the registered route CS that istargeted for the determination. The predetermined threshold MCc in thepresent embodiment is approximately 0.8 to 0.9, for example, but is notlimited thereto. The predetermined threshold MCc may be changedaccording to the condition (such as whether it is rainy or dry) or theshape (such as the degree of curvature or slope) of the track travelledby the dump truck 20, for example. The route determination unit 12 a cantherefore determine whether the third condition is satisfied inconsideration of the actual track because there is a case where the dumptruck 20 detours around a part of the track depending on the roadcondition even when travelling the same track.

FIG. 11 is a diagram provided to describe determination ofcorrespondence between the position information PI on the actual travelroute CSr and the passing position WP on the registered route CS in thespecific section. The specific section SC illustrated in FIG. 11includes passing positions WPa, WPb, WPc, and WPd as nodes and linksLKa, LKb, and LKc. The passing positions WPa and WPd located at bothends of the specific section SC are referred to as specific sectionpositions SPt1 and SPt2, respectively. When the specific section SC onthe registered route CS corresponds with a part of the actual travelroute CSr, one can determine that the correspondent part highly possiblyhas the same characteristic since, as described above, the specificsection SC is the part of the registered route CS where thecharacteristic is considered substantially identical. Accordingly, theroute determination unit 12 a in the present embodiment determines thatthe third condition is satisfied when the specific section positionsSPt1 and SPt2 of the specific section SC correspond with the positioninformation PI on the actual travel route CSr in all the specificsections SC. The accuracy of determining whether or not the actualtravel route CSr corresponds with the registered route CS can beimproved as a result. The determination of whether or not the specificsection positions SPt1 and SPt2 correspond with the position informationPI on the actual travel route CSr is similar to the determination ofwhether or not the passing position WP corresponds with the positioninformation PI.

When the third condition is satisfied (step S110; Yes), the routedetermination unit 12 a determines that the actual travel route CSr isidentical to the registered route CS. In this case, the routedetermination unit 12 a in step S111 updates the route information,specifically the route information of the registered route CS stored inthe management-side storage device 13. For example, the routedetermination unit 12 a updates at least one of the number of travels,travel time, and operation information of the dump truck 20 travellingthe registered route CS that is determined to be identical. The numberof travels is updated by adding 1 to the current number of times. Thenumber of times the dump truck has travelled the registered route CS canbe updated as a result. The route determination unit 12 a also updatesthe route information, specifically the route information of theregistered route CS stored in the management-side storage device 13 whenthe specific section SC on the actual travel route CSr corresponds withthe specific section SC on the registered route CS, or when a newspecific section SC is generated. For example, the route determinationunit 12 a updates at least one of the number of travels, travel time,and operation information of the dump truck 20 travelling the specificsection SC determined to be identical or the specific section SCgenerated anew.

When determining that the actual travel route CSr is identical to theplurality of registered routes CS, the route determination unit 12 aupdates at least one of the number of travels, travel time, andoperation information of the dump truck 20 travelling the latestregistered route CS in updating the route information. There is a casewhere at least one of the travel starting position SPr, the loadingposition LPr, and the discharging position DPr does not correspond evenwhen the actual travel route CSr corresponds with the passing positionWP on the registered route CS, the case resulting from the shift of atleast one of the discharge station DPA and the loading station LPA alongtime. In this case, the management-side processing device 12 generatesnew route information by using the position information PI on the actualtravel route CSr and registers the route information as the registeredroute CS into the registered route database 14CS or the like of themanagement-side storage device 13. The registered route CS includes theone used in the past but not used anymore and the latest one currentlyused, when it is determined that the actual travel route CSr isidentical to the plurality of registered routes CS. In this case, theroute determination unit 12 a can update the route information of thelatest registered route CS currently being used by updating at least oneof the number of travels, the travel time, and the operation informationof the dump truck 20 travelling the latest registered route CS as is thecase with the present embodiment.

There is sometimes a timing delay for the management-side processingdevice 12 to acquire the position information PI on the actual travelroute CSr due to communication delay, for example. It is possible insuch case that the registered route CS cannot be updated with the latestinformation. In updating the route information in the presentembodiment, the route determination unit 12 a does not update the numberof travels and the travel time of the dump truck 20 travelling theregistered route CS that is determined to be identical to the actualtravel route CSr, when the travel time of the dump truck 20 travellingthe actual travel route CSr precedes the last-updated time of theregistered route CS that is determined to be identical to the actualtravel route CSr. The registered route CS is updated with the latestinformation as a result.

Once the route information on the registered route CS is updated, theprocess proceeds to step S112 where at least one of the number oftravels, the travel time, and the operation information is aggregatedand updated for each link of the registered route CS that is determinedto be identical to the actual travel route CSr in step S110. In stepS113 as illustrated in FIG. 6, the route analysis unit 12 e of themanagement-side processing device 12 aggregates the specific section SCbased on the route information on the registered route CS or the likeacquired by the process that is performed up to this point. The processperformed in step S113 will be described later on. Now, the process willbe described by referring back to step S104 illustrated in FIG. 6.

There is no registered route CS that corresponds with the actual travelroute CSr when at least one of the first position informationcorresponding to the travel starting position SPr, the second positioninformation corresponding to the loading position LPr, and the thirdposition information corresponding to the discharging position DPr thatare extracted in step S102 does not correspond with the loading positionLP or the discharging position DP on the registered route CS (step S104;No). The route determination unit 12 a proceeds to step S114 in thiscase. In step S114, the route determination unit 12 a registers theposition information of the position having no correspondence as a newdischarging position DP or a new loading position LP. Next, the newregistration of at least one of the discharging position DP and theloading position LP will be described along with a case where noposition is newly registered.

FIGS. 12 and 13 are diagrams provided to describe the case where thedischarging position DP is not newly registered. The dischargingposition DP as the representative position of the discharge station DPA0and the loading position LP are not newly registered when thedetermination is affirmative (Yes) in step S104. The dischargingposition DP0 (the travel starting position SP1) on the registered routeCS is already described and registered in the LP/DP database 14RD andthe registered route database 14CS of the management-side storage device13 illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate the example where the travel startingposition SPr on the actual travel route CSr is located within the rangeSPC1, namely the discharge station DPA0, with the predetermined radiusRD centered around the discharging position DP0 (the representativeposition of the discharge station DPA0) that is already registered. Itis thus determined that the travel starting position SPr on the actualtravel route CSr corresponds with the registered discharging positionDP0. Accordingly, the travel starting position SPr on the actual travelroute CSr is not registered as a new discharging position DPn in theLP/DP database 14RD. Note that the travel starting position SPr on theactual travel route CSr corresponds to the position at which the truckis unloaded within the range SPC1 with the predetermined radius RDcentered around the discharging position DP0 (the representativeposition of the discharge station DPA0).

In this case, the region specification unit 12 c of the management-sideprocessing device 12 illustrated in FIG. 2 uses the travel startingposition SPr on the actual travel route CSr to correct the registereddischarging position DP0. The region specification unit 12 c determinesa middle point of the two to be a corrected discharging position DP0 n(a travel starting position SP1 n), for example. The regionspecification unit 12 c then rewrites the uncorrected dischargingposition DP0 described in the LP/DP database 14RD of the management-sidestorage device 13 into the corrected DP0 n. The route-specific LP/DPdatabase 14RD is updated as a result. Note that the discharge stationDPA1 illustrated in FIG. 7 is processed in the same way as the dischargestation DPA0.

The error in the discharging position DP0 can be made smaller as thenumber of travel starting positions SPr on the actual travel route CSraccumulates because the registered discharging position DP0 is correctedby using the travel starting position SPr on the actual travel routeCSr. The discharge stations DPA0 and DPA1 also tend to widen graduallyas the truck discharges the load. The corrected discharging position DP0n can therefore be reflected in specifying the route by correcting thedischarging position DP0 with the use of the travel starting positionSPr on the actual travel route CSr (the discharging position DPr on theactual travel route CSr for the discharge station DPA1 illustrated inFIG. 7). Now, there will be described a case where the loading positionLP1 is not newly registered.

FIGS. 14 and 15 are diagrams provided to describe the case where theloading position LP is not newly registered. The loading position LP1 onthe registered route CS is already described and registered in the LP/DPdatabase 14RD and the registered route database 14CS of themanagement-side storage device 13 illustrated in FIG. 2. FIGS. 14 and 15illustrate the example where the loading position LPr on the actualtravel route CSr is located within the range, namely the loading stationLPA1, with the predetermined radius RL centered around the loadingposition LP1 that is already registered. It is thus determined that theloading position LPr on the actual travel route CSr corresponds with theregistered loading position LP1. Accordingly, the loading position LPron the actual travel route CSr is not registered as a new loadingposition LPn in the LP/DP database 14RD.

In this case, the region specification unit 12 c uses the loadingposition LPr on the actual travel route CSr to correct the registeredloading position LP1. The region specification unit 12 c corrects theregistered loading position LP1 by changing it to the loading positionLPr on the actual travel route CSr, for example. A corrected loadingposition is indicated as LP1 n for convenience in the presentembodiment. A predetermined range around the corrected loading positionLP1 n is now a new loading station LPA1 n. After the registered loadingposition LP1 is corrected, the correspondence between the loadingposition LPr on the actual travel route CSr and the registered loadingposition LP1 n is determined according to whether or not the loadingposition LPr on the actual travel route CSr is located within thepredetermined range around the corrected loading position LP1 n. Theloading station LPA1 in the present embodiment constantly shifts along avein, whereby the corrected or current loading position LP1 n can bereflected in specifying the route by correcting the loading position LP1with the use of the loading position LPr on the actual travel route CSr.

It is preferred, in the case where the loading station LPA1 constantlyshifts along the vein, that the loading position LP1 be at the sameloading station within a range of a predetermined travel distance for afixed period of time, without registering a new loading position. FIG.14 illustrates the example where the corrected loading position LP1 n isconsidered to be at the same loading station before and after correctionwithin the range of the predetermined travel distance for the fixedperiod of time, so that the corrected loading position LP1 n is notnewly registered. When the loading position LP1 shifts for thepredetermined travel distance or more from the position initiallyregistered, for example, the overall travel distance of the travel routeat that time becomes excessively longer than the travel distanceinitially registered, thereby making it difficult to regard the route asthe same travel route. The loading position is considered to be at thesame loading station before and after correction when the correctedloading position LP1 n is within the range of the predetermined traveldistance. Therefore, one can avoid the case where it is difficult toregard a route as the same travel route because of the increased overalltravel distance, even when the loading position LP1 shifts along thevein. Moreover, the corrected loading position LP1 n is considered to beat the same loading station before and after correction within the rangeof the predetermined travel distance for the fixed period of time inorder to avoid determining the correspondence based on the loadingposition LP1 n as old position information past the fixed period oftime.

FIGS. 16 and 17 are diagrams provided to describe a case where thedischarging position DP is newly registered. These figures illustratethe example where the travel starting position SPr on the actual travelroute CSr is located outside the range SPC1, namely the dischargestation DPA0, with the predetermined radius RD centered around thedischarging position DP0 (the travel starting position SP1) that isalready registered. In this case, the route determination unit 12 adetermines that the travel starting position SPr on the actual travelroute CSr does not correspond with the registered discharging positionDP0. The region specification unit 12 c then registers, into the LP/DPdatabase 14RD, the position information and the like of the travelstarting position SPr on the actual travel route CSr as a newdischarging position DPn.

After newly registered, the new discharging position DPn is also used inthe determination performed in step S103. In other words, the routedetermination unit 12 a determines the correspondence between the travelstarting position SPr and the discharging position DPn according towhether or not the travel starting position SPr on the actual travelroute CSr is located within a predetermined range SPC1 n (a dischargestation DPA0 n) with the predetermined radius RD centered around thedischarging position DPn. Next, there will be described a case where theloading position LP is newly registered.

FIGS. 18 and 19 are diagrams provided to describe the case where theloading position LP is newly registered. These figures illustrate theexample where the loading position LPr on the actual travel route CSr islocated outside the range, namely the loading station LPA1, with thepredetermined radius RL centered around the loading position LP1 that isalready registered. In this case, the route determination unit 12 adetermines that the loading position LPr on the actual travel route CSrdoes not correspond with the registered loading position LP1. The regionspecification unit 12 c then registers, into the LP/DP database 14RD,the position information and the like of the loading position LPr on theactual travel route CSr as a new loading position LPn.

After newly registered, the new loading position LPn is also used in thedetermination performed in step S103. In other words, the routedetermination unit 12 a determines the correspondence between theloading position LPr and the loading position LPn according to whetheror not the loading position LPr on the actual travel route CSr islocated within a predetermined range LPC1 n with the predeterminedradius RL centered around the loading position LPn.

The number of loading positions LP corresponding to the second positionon the registered route CS as well as the number of dischargingpositions DP corresponding to the first and third positions on theregistered route CS increase every time the new loading position LPn orthe new discharging position DPn is registered in the LP/DP database14RD. The information of the loading position LP and the dischargingposition DP gets old as time elapses. Therefore, the route determinationunit 12 a in the present embodiment performs the determination in stepS103 by using the loading position LP and the discharging position DPthat are registered for a predetermined period of time or less in theLP/DP database 14RD. The route determination unit 12 a can thusdetermine whether or not the discharging position DP and the like on theregistered route CS corresponds with the discharging position DPr andthe like on the actual travel route CSr in accordance with the conditionof the mine that changes every moment, whereby the accuracy ofdetermination is improved. The predetermined period of time is notparticularly limited in the present embodiment but can be several daysto several weeks, for example. The predetermined period of time maydiffer between the loading position LP and the discharging position DP.In this case, it is preferred that the predetermined period of time beshorter for the loading position LP than the discharging position DP.This is because the loading position LP tends to shift along the depositor in accordance with the operation mode and thus changes more quicklythan the discharging position DP.

Once at least one of the discharging position DP and the loadingposition LP is newly registered in step S114, the management-sideprocessing device 12 proceeds the process to step S115. In step S115,the route determination unit 12 a determines whether or not the positioninformation PI on the actual travel route CSr corresponds with thepassing position WP on the registered route CS, the passing position WPbeing already described and registered in the route-specific WP database14WP of the management-side storage device 13. The determination isseparately made for each of the outbound route CSr1 and the inboundroute CSr2 of the actual travel route CSr. The determination is made forall the registered passing positions WP in the present embodiment butneed not be made for all the passing positions WP.

The determination is already negative (No) in step S104 before step S115is performed. Therefore, there is no registered route CS thatcorresponds with the actual travel route CSr. The route determinationunit 12 a can however extract a part of the actual travel route CSrpartly corresponding with the registered route CS by extracting thepassing position WP on the registered route CS that corresponds with theposition information PT on the actual travel route CSr.

The route determination unit 12 a determines whether or not the positioninformation PT on the actual travel route CSr corresponds with thepassing position WP on the registered route CS for all the registeredpassing positions WP in the present embodiment, but may only considerthe passing position WP located within a predetermined range around theactual travel route CSr as a target for the determination. This allowsthe number of passing positions WP targeted for the determination to bedecreased, thereby reducing the load required for the management-sideprocessing device 12 in performing the determination process.

FIG. 20-1 is a diagram provided to describe a process of extracting thepassing position WP on the registered route CS that corresponds with theposition information PI on the actual travel route CSr. Referencenumerals k, k+1, and the like (where “k” is an integer) attached to thereference numeral PI indicating the position information in FIG. 20-1are provided to distinguish the plurality of pieces of positioninformation PI. It is simply referred to as the position information PIwhen there is no need to distinguish the plurality of pieces of positioninformation PI. Moreover, reference numerals n, n+1, and the like (where“n” is an integer) attached to the reference numeral WP indicating thepassing position in FIG. 20-1 are provided to distinguish the pluralityof passing positions WP. It is simply referred to as the passingposition WP when there is no need to distinguish the plurality ofpassing positions WP. FIG. 20-1 illustrates the example where a part ofthe actual travel route CSr corresponds with a part of a plurality ofpassing positions WPn−2 to WPn+2 included in the registered route CS.Specifically, position information PIk+2, PIk+3, and PIk+4 among aplurality of pieces of position information PIk to PIk+6 (where “k” isan integer) included in the actual travel route CSr are located within apredetermined range WPC with a predetermined radius around the passingpositions WPn−2, WPn−1, and WPn, respectively.

The route determination unit 12 a illustrated in FIG. 2 extracts thepassing positions WPn−2, WPn−1, and WPn on the registered route CS thatcorrespond with the position information PIk+2, PIk+3, and PIk+4included as a part of the actual travel route CSr. Next, the routedetermination unit 12 a uses the position information PIk+2, PIk+3, andPIk+4 on the actual travel route CSr to correct the correspondingpassing positions WPn−2, WPn−1, and WPn. This correction is performed asdescribed above. Once the correction is completed, the routedetermination unit 12 a rewrites the uncorrected value described in theroute-specific WP database 14WP of the management-side storage device 13into a corrected value. The route determination unit 12 a determineswhether or not the position information PI on the actual travel routeCSr corresponds with the passing position WP for all the targetedpassing positions WP, corrects any corresponding passing position WPwith the position information PI, and proceeds to step S116. In stepS116, the route information generation unit 12 d of the management-sideprocessing device 12 illustrated in FIG. 2 generates a new passingposition WP in a part not corresponding with the passing position WP onthe registered route CS.

FIG. 20-2 is a diagram provided to describe a method of generating a newpassing position WP. In the present embodiment, the route informationgeneration unit 12 d cannot generate the new passing position WP withina range WPex enclosed with a passing position exclusion radius RWex of apredetermined size around the existing passing position WP. In otherwords, the route information generation unit 12 d generates the newpassing position WP outside the range WPex enclosed with the passingposition exclusion radius RWex of the predetermined size around theexisting passing position WP. The passing position exclusion radius RWexis greater than the predetermined radius RWP that is used in determiningwhether or not the position information PT on the actual travel routeCSr corresponds with the passing position WP. In the present embodiment,the passing position exclusion radius RWex is approximately 50 m but isnot limited thereto.

FIG. 20-2 illustrates the example where the position information PIk+5on the actual travel route CSr is located within the passing positionexclusion radius RWex of the passing position WPn+1 on the registeredroute CS. The route information generation unit 12 d therefore does notgenerate a passing position WP at the position of the positioninformation PIk+5. On the other hand, the position information PIk+6 onthe actual travel route CSr is located in a region excluding the rangewith the passing position exclusion radius RWex (a passing positionexclusion region) of each of the passing position WPn+1 and the passingposition WPn+2 on the registered route CS, or located outside the range.The route information generation unit 12 d therefore generates a newpassing position WPN1 at the position of the position information PIk+6.

The route information generation unit 12 d generates a next new passingposition WPN2 adjacent to the new passing position WPN1 in a regionexcluding the range with the passing position exclusion radius REex ofthe passing position WPn+2 on the registered route CS by using theposition information PIk+7 of a position that is a predetermineddistance away from the passing position WPN1. Accordingly, the routeinformation generation unit 12 d generates the new passing positionsWPN1, WPN2, and the like from the position information PT included inthe actual travel route CSr and registers them into the route-specificWP database 14WP of the management-side storage device 13.

FIGS. 12 to 19 will now be used to describe an example of generating ornot generating a new passing position WP in the vicinity of thedischarging position DP and the loading position LP. FIG. 12 illustratesthe example where the actual travel route CSr is located within thepredetermined range WPC with the predetermined radius RWP centeredaround each of the passing positions WP1 and WP2 on the registered routeCS, whereby the passing position WP is not newly generated. Likewise,FIG. 14 illustrates the example where the actual travel route CSr islocated within the predetermined range WPC with the predetermined radiusRWP centered around each of the passing positions WP7 and WP8 on theregistered route CS, whereby the passing position WP is not newlygenerated.

FIG. 16 illustrates the example where position information PIsgr on theactual travel route CSr is located within the predetermined range WPCwith the predetermined radius RWP centered around the passing positionWP1 on the registered route CS. Therefore, a new passing position WP isnot generated from the position information PIsgr on the actual travelroute CSr. The passing position WP1 on the registered route CS iscorrected by using the position information PIsgr on the actual travelroute CSr, in this case. FIG. 18 illustrates the example where positioninformation PIegr on the actual travel route CSr is located within thepredetermined range WPC with the predetermined radius RWP centeredaround the passing position WP8 on the registered route CS. Therefore, anew passing position WP is not generated from the position informationPIegr on the actual travel route CSr. The passing position WP8 on theregistered route CS is corrected by using the position information PIegron the actual travel route CSr, in this case.

As illustrated in FIGS. 12 to 19, the passing positions WP1, WP2, andthe like on the registered route CS are all generated outside thepassing position exclusion radius RWex. As illustrated in FIGS. 12, 13,16, and 17, the route information generation unit 12 d does not generatea passing position WP inside a range (a second range on the dischargingside; hereinafter referred to as a passing position exclusion region, asappropriate) SPex with a passing position exclusion radius RDex of apredetermined size centered around the discharging position DP0 (thetravel starting position SP1). That is, the route information generationunit 12 d generates the passing position WP in a region excluding thepassing position exclusion region SPex. Furthermore, as illustrated inFIGS. 14, 15, 18, and 19, the route information generation unit 12 ddoes not generate the passing position WP inside a range (a second rangeor a second range on the loading side; hereinafter referred to as apassing position exclusion region, as appropriate) LPex with a passingposition exclusion radius RLex of a predetermined size centered aroundthe loading position LP1. The passing position exclusion radius RDex isgreater than the predetermined radius RD of the discharge station DPA0,while the passing position exclusion radius RLex is greater than thepredetermined radius RL of the loading station LPA1.

There is usually no set track in the vicinity of the loading station LPAand the discharge station DPA. The area in the vicinity of the loadingstation LPA and the discharge station DPA is thus excluded whendetermining the correspondence between the actual travel route CSr andthe passing position WP on the registered route CS. For this reason, thepassing position exclusion region LPex and the passing positionexclusion region SPex are provided in the loading station LPA and thedischarge station DPA in the present embodiment, respectively.

FIG. 13 illustrates the example where the position information PIsgr onthe actual travel route CSr is not located within the predeterminedrange WPC with the predetermined radius RWP centered around the passingposition WP1 on the registered route CS. A new passing position WPsgr istherefore generated from the position information PIsgr on the actualtravel route CSr. In this case, the new passing position WPsgr isgenerated in a region excluding the passing position exclusion regionSPex with the passing position exclusion radius RDex centered around thedischarging position DP0 (the travel starting position SP1). Likewise,FIG. 17 illustrates the example where the position information PIsgr onthe actual travel route CSr is not located within the predeterminedrange WPC with the predetermined radius RWP centered around the passingposition WP1 on the registered route CS. Moreover, the travel startingposition SPr on the actual travel route CSr is registered as the newdischarging position DPn in the example illustrated in FIG. 17. In thiscase, a new passing position WPsgr is generated in a region excludingthe passing position exclusion region SPex with the passing positionexclusion radius RDex centered around the new discharging position DPn.The new passing position WPsgr may be located within the range SPC1,namely the discharge station DPA0, with the predetermined radius RDcentered around the discharging position DP0 on the registered route CS.

FIG. 15 illustrates the example where the position information PIegr onthe actual travel route CSr is not located within the predeterminedrange WPC with the predetermined radius RWP centered around the passingposition WP8 on the registered route CS. A new passing position WPegr istherefore generated from the position information PIegr on the actualtravel route CSr. In this case, the new passing position WPegr isgenerated in a region excluding the passing position exclusion regionLPex with the passing position exclusion radius RLex centered around theloading position LP1. FIG. 19 also illustrates the example where theposition information PIegr on the actual travel route CSr is not locatedwithin the predetermined range WPC with the predetermined radius RWPcentered around the passing position WP8 on the registered route CS.Moreover, the loading position LPr on the actual travel route CSr isregistered as the new loading position LPn in the example illustrated inFIG. 19. In this case, the new passing position WPegr is generated in aregion excluding the passing position exclusion region LPex with thepassing position exclusion radius RLex centered around the new loadingposition LPn. The new passing position WPegr may be located within therange, namely the loading station LPA1, with the predetermined radius RLcentered around the loading position LP1 on the registered route CS.

Once the new passing position WP is generated at the part of the actualtravel route CSr not corresponding with the passing position WP on theregistered route CS, a new pieces of new route information generated byusing the position information PT corresponding to the actual travelroute CSr is registered as a new route into the registered routedatabase 14CS of the management-side storage device 13 in step S117. Theroute information generation unit 12 d in this case uses the passingposition WP that is newly generated and registered in step S116 as anode, connects the node by a link, and generates the route informationcorresponding to the actual travel route CSr. The route informationgeneration unit 12 d then describes the generated route informationcorresponding to the actual travel route CSr into the registered routedatabase 14CS and stores it in the management-side storage device 13.There may be at least two or more passing positions WP included in theroute information corresponding to the actual travel route CSr, so thatthere may be at least one link.

The route information generation unit 12 d generates the routeinformation corresponding to the actual travel route CSr by using thepassing position WP, if any, that is already registered and existent andcorresponds with the position information PI on the actual travel routeCSr. When the route information corresponding to the actual travel routeCSr corresponds with a part of the existing route information, therecord such as the number of travels of the dump truck 20 of thecorresponding part can be added together at the time of aggregation. Asa result, the operating condition of the dump truck 20 can be analyzedin more detail and more accurately.

After registering the new piece of route information (hereinafterreferred to as new route information, as appropriate) corresponding tothe actual travel route CSr, the route analysis unit 12 e of themanagement-side processing device 12 illustrated in FIG. 2 counts, instep S118, at least one of the number of travels, the travel time, andthe operation information for each link in the new route informationgenerated in step S117. The registered new route information now becomesthe registered route. In step S119, the route analysis unit 12 eextracts from the route-specific specific section database 14SC theregistered specific section SC that corresponds with a section at a partof the new route information generated in step S117. The specificsection SC corresponds with a section having two passing positions WP atboth ends of the section in the new route information, for example, whenthe specific section positions SPt1 and SPt2 at both ends of theregistered specific section SC correspond with the two passing positionsWP included in the new route information, respectively.

The registered specific section SC corresponding with the section at apart of the new route information is used as a specific section of thenew route information. Accordingly, the record such as the number oftravels of the dump truck 20 in any specific section identical to thespecific section SC that is already registered and existent can be addedtogether at the time of aggregation. As a result, the operatingcondition of the dump truck 20 can be analyzed in more detail and moreaccurately. The management-side processing device 12 proceeds to stepS120 after extracting the registered specific section SC correspondingwith the section at a part of the new route information. In step S120,the route analysis unit 12 e newly generates a specific section for apart of the new route information that does not correspond with theregistered specific section SC.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a combination of thepassing position WP and the link LK including a specific section SC in apart of new route information RIN. FIG. 22 is a diagram provided todescribe an example of a method of generating a specific section SC.FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating classification by a slope angle usedin generating the specific section SC. FIG. 24 is a diagram provided todescribe an example of a method of generating the specific section SC. AZ-axis in FIGS. 22 and 24 indicates a vertical direction. An X-axis anda Y-axis are orthogonal to each other and to the Z-axis. In generatingthe specific section SC from the new route information RIN, the routeanalysis unit 12 e determines, as the specific section SC, a part of thenew route information RIN where the difference in slopes of the links LKadjacent to each other is within a predetermined range, the orientationdifference between the links LK adjacent to each other is within apredetermined value, and no intersection is included between the links.

The new route information RIN illustrated in FIG. 21 includes theplurality of passing positions WP1 and WP2 to WP7 and the plurality oflinks LK1 and LK2 to LK6. The passing positions WP3, WP4, and WP5 andthe links LK3 and LK4 correspond to the specific section SC. The passingpositions WP3 and WP5 correspond to the specific section positions SPt1and SPt2, respectively. As illustrated in FIG. 22, links LKa, LKb, andLKc have slopes SLPa, SLPb, and SLPc (%), respectively. It is simplyreferred to as a slope SPL when there is no need to distinguish theslopes SLPa, SLPb, and SLPc. The slope is determined to be identicalwhen the difference in the slopes SPL (%) of the links adjacent to eachother falls within a predetermined range. The slope is determined to beidentical in the present embodiment when the slope SLP of each of thelinks LKa, LKb, and LKc classified into five levels falls under the samelevel, for example. As illustrated in FIG. 23, level 1 has the slope SLPless than −a (%), level 2 has the slope SLP that is −a (%) or greaterand less than b (%), level 3 has the slope SLP that is b (%) or greaterand c (%) or less, level 4 has the slope SLP greater than c (%) and d(%) or less, and level 5 has the slope SLP greater than d (%). Themagnitude of a, b, c, and d is not particularly limited. The slopeanalysis unit 12 b of the management-side processing device 12illustrated in FIG. 2 determines the identity of the slope. The routeanalysis unit 12 e generates the specific section SC based on thedetermination result by the slope analysis unit 12 b.

As illustrated in FIG. 24, the adjacent links LKa and LKb are determinedto be in the same direction when the orientation difference β(degrees)between the adjacent link LKa and link LKb is within a predeterminedangle γ. In the present embodiment, the predetermined angle γ is 30degrees but is not limited thereto. The orientation of each of the linkLKa and the link LKb is found from the coordinate of the pair of passingpositions WPa and WPb and passing positions WPb and WPc that are locatedat both ends of the link LKa and the link LKb, respectively.

In the present embodiment, the route analysis unit 12 e generates thenew route information RIN as the new piece of route information byextracting the intersection based on the number of links LK1 and LK2 toLK6 connected to the passing positions WP1 and WP2 to WP7 as nodes.Specifically, the route analysis unit 12 e extracts, as theintersection, a single passing position to which three or more links areconnected. FIG. 21 illustrates the example where three links LK2, LK3,and LK6 are connected to the passing position WP3. The route analysisunit 12 e thus extracts the passing position WP3 as the intersection.While the links LK2, LK3, and LK4 have the orientation difference withinthe predetermined value and the same slope in the example illustrated inFIG. 21, the specific section SC includes the passing positions WP3,WP4, and WP5 and the links LK3 and LK4 since the passing position WP3 isthe intersection. The specific section SC is newly generated by suchmethod in the new route information RIN in step S120.

Thereafter, the route analysis unit 12 e in step S113 aggregates thegenerated specific section SC. At least one of the number of travels,the travel time, and the operation information of the dump truck 20 isaggregated for each specific section SC, for example.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a state where identical passingpositions WP in a plurality of pieces of route information CSa, CSb, andCSc are not integrated. FIG. 25 illustrates the example where the routeinformation CSa includes passing positions WPa1, WPa2, WPa3, WPa4, andWPa5, the route information CSb includes passing positions WPb1, WPb2,WPb3, WPb4, and WPb5, and the route information CSc includes passingpositions WPc1, WPc2, WPc3, and WPc4. The passing positions WPa2 andWPb2 are the identical positions, the passing positions WPa3, WPb3, andWPc2 are the identical positions, and the passing positions WPa4, WPb4,and WPc3 are the identical positions.

When the identical passing positions WP are not integrated, theidentical section is determined as a different route in each of theroute information CSa, CSb, and CSc, whereby the operation informationof the dump truck 20 is aggregated for each of the route informationCSa, CSb, and CSc, for example. Therefore, the operation information inthe identical section cannot be added together at the time of theaggregation. Moreover, it is required to extract the operationinformation in the identical section from each of the route informationCSa, CSb, and CSc when the state of the dump truck 20 travelling theidentical section is to be compared, thereby possibly requiring time inthe process.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a state where the identical passingpositions WP in the plurality of pieces of route information CSa, CSb,and CSc are integrated. In the present embodiment, the passing positionsWPa2 and WPb2, the passing positions WPa3, WPb3, and WPc2, and thepassing positions WPa4, WPb4, and WPc3 that are identical among theplurality of pieces of route information CSa, CSb, and CSc as describedabove are integrated into a passing position WPi1, a passing positionWPi2, and a passing position WPi3, respectively. The operationinformation in the identical section can thus be added together at thetime of aggregation in the present embodiment. As a result, theoperating condition of the dump truck 20 can be analyzed in more detailand more accurately. Moreover, the comparison of the state of the dumptruck 20 travelling the identical section in the present embodiment canbe made easily since one need only extract the operation information inthe identical section being integrated.

FIGS. 27 and 28 are diagrams provided to describe aggregation of thespecific section SC. It is possible that the number of links LKconnected to the passing position WP increases as the number ofregistered routes increases. The number of intersections increases as aresult. Therefore, the route analysis unit 12 e in the presentembodiment re-calculates the specific section SC periodically such asapproximately once a week or once a month.

Generated in the route information CSa as the registered route in theexample illustrated in FIG. 27 is a specific section SC1 which includesthe passing positions WPa1, WPa2, WPa3, and WPa4 and links LKa1, LKa2,and LKa3. The route information CSb as the registered route includes thepassing positions WPb1, WPb2, WPb3, and WPb4 and links LKb1, LKb2, andLKb3. A specific section SC2 and a specific section SC3 are generated,with the passing position WPb2 as a boundary therebetween, in the routeinformation CSb since the orientation difference between the link LKb1and the link LKb2 exceeds the predetermined value.

FIG. 27 illustrates the example where the passing position WPa2 of theroute information CSa is identical to the passing position WPb2 of theroute information CSb. Three links LKa1, LKa2, and LKb1 are connected tothese two positions, which make them the intersection. Accordingly, theroute analysis unit 12 e re-calculates the specific section SC tointegrate each of the identical passing positions WPa2 and WPb2, passingpositions WPa3 and WPb3, and passing positions WPa4 and WPb4 in theroute information CSa and CSb into passing positions WPi2, WPi3, andWPi4 as illustrated in FIG. 28, respectively. The route analysis unit 12e determines the passing position WPi2, to which three links LKa1, LKa2,and LKb1 are connected, as the intersection and divides the specificsection SC along the intersection.

Regenerated from the route information CSa and CSb as a result are aspecific section SC2 including the passing positions WPi2, WPi3, andWPi4 and links LKi1 and LKi2, a specific section SC3 including thepassing positions WPb1 and WPi2 and the link LKb1, and a specificsection SC4 including the passing positions WPa1 and WPi2 and the linkLKa1. Accordingly, the specific section SC based on the actual travelroute can be obtained in the present embodiment because the routeanalysis unit 12 e periodically regenerates the specific section SC.

(First Variation)

A procedure of a mining machine management method according to firstvariation of the present embodiment will be described. The miningmachine management method according to first variation is implemented bya management system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 such as a management device10 illustrated in FIG. 2. The mining machine management method accordingto first variation includes extracting a route candidate, determiningcorrespondence of a passing position WP for each route candidate, anddetermining a travel distance. Specifically, according to a flowchartillustrated in FIG. 6, a management-side processing device 12 executesstep S105 and step S106, followed by step S109 and step S110 when thedetermination in step S106 is affirmative (Yes). The management-sideprocessing device 12 then executes step S107 and step S108 when thedetermination in step S110 is affirmative (Yes), and executes step S111when the determination in step S108 is affirmative (Yes).

In calculating the travel distance on an outbound route CSr1 of anactual travel route CSr in step S107 in the present variation, a routedetermination unit 12 a excludes the distance equivalent to apredetermined radius RD from a travel starting position SPr and thedistance equivalent to a predetermined radius RL from a loading positionLPr. The route determination unit 12 a further excludes the distanceequivalent to the predetermined radius RD from a discharging positionDPr and the distance equivalent to the predetermined radius RL from theloading position LPr in calculating the travel distance on an inboundroute CSr2 of the actual travel route CSr.

(Second Variation)

A procedure of a mining machine management method according to secondvariation of the present embodiment will be described. The miningmachine management method according to second variation is implementedby a management system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 such as a managementdevice 10 illustrated in FIG. 2. The mining machine management methodaccording to second variation includes determining correspondence of anexisting passing position WP at first, followed by determiningcorrespondence of a loading position LP and a discharging position DPand searching for a route candidate. The method thereafter determinescorrespondence of a passing position WP in the course candidate for eachroute.

Specifically, according to a flowchart illustrated in FIG. 6, amanagement-side processing device 12 executes step S102 and then stepS115. At this time, a route determination unit 12 a temporarily storesan existing passing position WP extracted by the process performed instep S115 and corresponding with an actual travel route CSr into aworkspace of a management-side storage device 13 illustrated in FIG. 2.

Subsequently, the management-side processing device 12 executes stepS103, step S104, step S105, and step S106 in this order. Themanagement-side processing device 12 then executes step S109 and stepS110 when the determination in step S106 is affirmative (Yes), andexecutes step S107 and step S108 when the determination in step S110 isaffirmative (Yes). Note that the management-side processing device 12may instead execute step S106 followed by step S107 and step S108 whenthe determination in step S106 is affirmative (Yes), and then executestep S109 and step S110 when the determination in step S108 isaffirmative (Yes). The passing position WP is not corrected in step S109according to the present variation. In step S109, the routedetermination unit 12 a determines correspondence between the existingpassing position WP which is extracted in step S115, stored in theworkspace, and corresponds with the actual travel route CSr and apassing position WP on a registered route CS to be a candidate.

In the present variation, it is first determined whether or not positioninformation PT on the actual travel route CSr corresponds with thepassing position WP on the registered route CS, or the existing passingposition WP (S115), followed by the determination of correspondencebetween the corresponding position information PT on the actual travelroute CSr and the passing position WP on the registered route CS to bethe candidate (S109).

The position information corresponding with the existing passingposition WP is extracted from among a number of pieces of positioninformation PI on the actual travel route CSr by executing step S115before step S109, as described above. In step S109, the routedetermination unit 12 a need only determine the correspondence betweenthe existing passing position WP corresponding with the actual travelroute CSr and the passing position WP on the registered route CS. Thepresent variation can thus reduce the processing time and the load onhardware when there are a number of course candidates because thecorrespondence with the course candidate is performed after determiningthe correspondence of the existing passing position WP.

As described above, it is determined in the present embodiment whetheror not the actual travel route CSr is identical to the registered routeCS by using at least the plurality of passing positions WP included inthe route information of the registered route CS and the plurality ofpieces of position information PI included in the actual travel routeCSr. Here, it is determined in the present embodiment that the actualtravel route CSr is identical to the registered route CS when: thetravel starting positions, the loading positions, and the dischargingpositions correspond between the two routes; the predetermined ratio ormore of the passing positions WP corresponds with the positioninformation on the actual travel route CSr; and the difference betweenthe travel distance on the registered route CS and the travel distanceon the actual travel route CSr is within the predetermined range. As aresult, the accuracy of distinguishing and specifying the routetravelled by the dump truck 20 can be improved. The condition ofcorrespondence in the present embodiment is that the predetermined ratioor more of the passing positions WP corresponds with the positioninformation on the actual travel route CSr and that the differencebetween the travel distance on the registered route CS and the traveldistance on the actual travel route CSr is within the predeterminedrange, which allows one to distinguish the actual travel route CSrdifferent from the registered route CS because the dump truck stops forrefueling or goes out of the way, for example. By comparing the routeinformation on the registered route CS located in the predeterminedrange around the actual travel route CSr including the plurality ofpieces of position information PT, there is no need to make comparisonwith the route information on all registered routes CS locatedthroughout the vast mine in the present embodiment. This is preferablebecause the load on the hardware can be reduced.

Moreover, the present embodiment determines that the passing position WPcorresponds with the position information PI when the positioninformation PI is located in the predetermined range around the passingposition WP, and also corrects the passing position WP by using theposition information PI located within the predetermined range aroundthe passing position WP. This allows the error in the passing positionWP to be made smaller in the present embodiment as the number of travelsof the dump truck 20 passing the identical passing position WPincreases. As a result, the accuracy of distinguishing and specifyingthe route travelled by the dump truck 20 can be improved according tothe present embodiment.

Furthermore, the present embodiment corrects the loading position on theregistered route based on the position at which the dump truck 20 isloaded at the loading station, namely, the position information of thelatest loading position. This allows the loading position after it isshifted to be registered when the loading position is shifted within thepredetermined range. The accuracy of distinguishing and specifying theroute travelled by the dump truck 20 can be improved as a result.

Furthermore, the present embodiment corrects the representative positionbased on the representative position of the discharge station DPA,namely, the position information of the discharging position DP1 or thelike at which the dump truck 20 is unloaded within the predeterminedrange around the discharging position on the registered route. Thisallows the error in the representative position of the discharge stationDPA to be made smaller as the number of times the dump truck 20 isunloaded increases. As a result, the accuracy of distinguishing andspecifying the route travelled by the dump truck 20 can be improvedaccording to the present embodiment.

Moreover, the present embodiment determines, as the specific section SC,the part of the route information where the slope difference between theadjacent links is within the predetermined value, the orientationdifference between the adjacent links is within the predetermined value,and the links do not have the intersection therebetween, the routeinformation including the node and the link on the registered route CS.The accuracy of generating the specific section SC is thus improved inthe present embodiment since the specific section SC is generated byusing not only the slope difference and the orientation differencebetween the links adjacent to each other but also the presence of theintersection. The accuracy of analyzing the operating condition or thelike of the dump truck 20 passing the specific section SC can beimproved in the present embodiment by extracting the specific section SCgenerated in the aforementioned manner from the plurality of registeredroutes CS.

The present embodiment has been described above but is not limited towhat has been described. While each of the range SPC1 used to determinethe correspondence between the position information and the travelstarting position SP1, the range (the loading station LPA1) used todetermine the correspondence between the position information and theloading position LP1, the range (the discharge station DPA1) used todetermine the correspondence between the position information and thedischarging position DP1, and the range WPC used to determine thecorrespondence between the position information and the passing positionWP is in the shape of a circle having the predetermined radius, thepresent embodiment is not limited to such shape, for example. Each shapemay be something other than a circle such as an ellipse, a rectangle, apolygon or a free form having a region of a predetermined size, forexample. Moreover, the passing position exclusion region provided ineach of the vicinity of the discharging positions DP0 and DP1, thevicinity of the loading position LP1, and the vicinity of the passingposition WP in order to not generate the new passing position WP is inthe shape of a circle having the predetermined radius. The presentembodiment is not however limited to such shape. Each shape may besomething other than a circle such as an ellipse, a rectangle, a polygonor a free form having a region of a predetermined size, for example.Furthermore, the procedure that implements the mining machine managementmethod according to the present embodiment is not limited to theprocedure described in the flowchart of the present embodiment and maybe modified as long as the same effect can be obtained.

The aforementioned components include the one that can be easilyenvisioned by those skilled in the art, is substantially the same, andhas what is called the equal range. The aforementioned components canalso be combined as appropriate. Moreover, the components can beomitted, substituted or modified in various ways without departing fromthe scope of the present embodiment. While the mining machine in thepresent embodiment may be operated by either the operator or themanagement system, the present embodiment is effective for a mannedmining machine to compare driving skills among a plurality of operatorsor perform attendance management of the operator, for example. While themanagement system performs the process of specifying the route travelledby the mining machine in the present embodiment, the route specificationprocess may instead be performed by the in-vehicle processor mounted inthe mining machine.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

1 mining machine management system (management system)

4 loading machine

10 management device

12 management-side processing device

12 a route determination unit

12 b slope analysis unit

12 c region specification unit

12 d route information generation unit

12 e route analysis unit

13 management-side storage device

14CS registered route database

14I operation information database

14RD LP/DP database

14SC route-specific specific section database

14WP route-specific WP database

18 management-side wireless communication device

20 dump truck

21 vehicle body

24 suspension cylinder

26 pressure sensor

29 position information detection device

CS registered route

CSr actual travel route

LK link

PI position information

SC specific section

WP passing position

The invention claimed is:
 1. A mining machine management systemcomprising: a position information detection unit which is mounted in amining machine operating in a mine and detects position informationrelated to a position of the mining machine; a determination unit whichdetermines whether or not a second route corresponding to a positioninformation group obtained from a plurality of pieces of the positioninformation detected by the position information detection unit when themining machine is in operation is identical to a first route that is aroute taken by the mining machine departing a predetermined firstposition, passing a second position at which a load is loaded, andmoving to a third position at which the load is removed, based on atleast route information of the first route and the position informationgroup, the route information including a plurality of nodes present atevery predetermined distance of the first route and a link connectingthe nodes adjacent to each other; and a storage unit which storestherein the route information, wherein a section having a plurality ofthe links adjacent to each other within the first route is determined tobe a specific section in which a slope difference between the linksadjacent to each other falls within a predetermined value, anorientation difference between the links adjacent to each other fallswithin a predetermined value, and there is no intersection between thelinks, and the determination unit determines that the second routecorresponding to the position information group is identical to thefirst route when: first position information corresponding to the firstposition corresponds with the first position of the route information,second position information corresponding to the second positioncorresponds with the second position of the route information, and thirdposition information corresponding to the third position correspondswith the third position of the route information, the first, second, andthird position information being included in the plurality of pieces ofposition information; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at aposition that corresponds with the position information is greater thanor equal to a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodespresent between the first position and the second position and theplurality of nodes present between the second position and the thirdposition; and a difference between a travel distance of the miningmachine obtained from the plurality of pieces of position informationand a distance from the first position through the second position up tothe third position falls within a predetermined range, and thedetermination unit determines that the second route is not identical tothe first route when a position of the node at each of both ends of thespecific section does not correspond with position informationcorresponding to the second route for all the specific section.
 2. Amining machine management system comprising: a position informationdetection unit which is mounted in a mining machine operating in a mineand detects position information related to a position of the miningmachine; a determination unit which determines whether or not a secondroute corresponding to a position information group obtained from aplurality of pieces of the position information detected by the positioninformation detection unit when the mining machine is in operation isidentical to a first route that is a route taken by the mining machinedeparting a predetermined first position, passing a second position atwhich a load is loaded, and moving to a third position at which the loadis removed, based on at least route information of the first route andthe position information group, the route information including aplurality of nodes present at every predetermined distance of the firstroute and a link connecting the nodes adjacent to each other; and astorage unit which stores therein the route information, wherein thedetermination unit determines that the second route corresponding to theposition information group is identical to the first route when: firstposition information corresponding to the first position correspondswith the first position of the route information, second positioninformation corresponding to the second position corresponds with thesecond position of the route information, and third position informationcorresponding to the third position corresponds with the third positionof the route information, the first, second, and third positioninformation being included in the plurality of pieces of positioninformation; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at a positionthat corresponds with the position information is greater than or equalto a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodes presentbetween the first position and the second position and the plurality ofnodes present between the second position and the third position; and adifference between a travel distance of the mining machine obtained fromthe plurality of pieces of position information and a distance from thefirst position through the second position up to the third positionfalls within a predetermined range, wherein the determination unitupdates at least one of the number of travels, travel time, andoperation information of the mining machine travelling the first routewhen the second route is determined to be identical to the first route,and the determination unit updates at least one of the number oftravels, travel time, and operation information of the mining machinetravelling the latest first route when the second route is determined tobe identical to a plurality of the first routes.
 3. A mining machinemanagement system comprising: a position information detection unitwhich is mounted in a mining machine operating in a mine and detectsposition information related to a position of the mining machine; adetermination unit which determines whether or not a second routecorresponding to a position information group obtained from a pluralityof pieces of the position information detected by the positioninformation detection unit when the mining machine is in operation isidentical to a first route that is a route taken by the mining machinedeparting a predetermined first position, passing a second position atwhich a load is loaded, and moving to a third position at which the loadis removed, based on at least route information of the first route andthe position information group, the route information including aplurality of nodes present at every predetermined distance of the firstroute and a link connecting the nodes adjacent to each other; a storageunit which stores therein the route information; and a route informationgeneration unit which generates route information including theplurality of nodes and at least one of the links based on the pluralityof pieces of position information, wherein the determination unitdetermines that the second route corresponding to the positioninformation group is identical to the first route when: first positioninformation corresponding to the first position corresponds with thefirst position of the route information, second position informationcorresponding to the second position corresponds with the secondposition of the route information, and third position informationcorresponding to the third position corresponds with the third positionof the route information, the first, second, and third positioninformation being included in the plurality of pieces of positioninformation; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at a positionthat corresponds with the position information is greater than or equalto a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodes presentbetween the first position and the second position and the plurality ofnodes present between the second position and the third position; adifference between a travel distance of the mining machine obtained fromthe plurality of pieces of position information and a distance from thefirst position through the second position up to the third positionfalls within a predetermined range; and when the determination unitdetermines that the second route is not identical to the first route,the route information generation unit uses the plurality of pieces ofposition information corresponding to the second route to generate newroute information that includes the plurality of nodes and at least oneof the links related to the second route, and stores the new routeinformation into the storage unit, and the determination unit determinesthat a section having a plurality of the links adjacent to each otherwithin the first route is a specific section in which a slope differencebetween the links adjacent to each other falls within a predeterminedvalue, an orientation difference between the links adjacent to eachother falls within a predetermined value, and there is no intersectionbetween the links, and the determination unit updates at least one ofthe number of travels, the travel time, and the operation information ofthe mining machine travelling a specific section of the first route whenthe second route is determined to be identical to the first route, aspecific section of the second route corresponds with the specificsection of the first route, or a new specific section is generated.
 4. Amining machine management system comprising: a position informationdetection unit which is mounted in a mining machine operating in a mineand detects position information related to a position of the miningmachine; a determination unit which determines whether or not a secondroute corresponding to a position information group obtained from aplurality of pieces of the position information detected by the positioninformation detection unit when the mining machine is in operation isidentical to a first route that is a route taken by the mining machinedeparting a predetermined first position, passing a second position atwhich a load is loaded, and moving to a third position at which the loadis removed, based on at least route information of the first route andthe position information group, the route information including aplurality of nodes present at every predetermined distance of the firstroute and a link connecting the nodes adjacent to each other; and astorage unit which stores therein the route information, wherein thedetermination unit determines that the second route corresponding to theposition information group is identical to the first route when: firstposition information corresponding to the first position correspondswith the first position of the route information, second positioninformation corresponding to the second position corresponds with thesecond position of the route information, and third position informationcorresponding to the third position corresponds with the third positionof the route information, the first, second, and third positioninformation being included in the plurality of pieces of positioninformation; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at a positionthat corresponds with the position information is greater than or equalto a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodes presentbetween the first position and the second position and the plurality ofnodes present between the second position and the third position; and adifference between a travel distance of the mining machine obtained fromthe plurality of pieces of position information and a distance from thefirst position through the second position us to the third positionfalls within a predetermined range, wherein the determination unitdetermines correspondence between the plurality of pieces of positioninformation and each of the first position information, the secondposition information, and the third position information by using thefirst position, the second position, and the third position on the firstroute that are registered in the storage unit for less than apredetermined period of time.
 5. A mining machine management system,comprising: a position information detection unit which is mounted in amining machine operating in a mine and detects position informationrelated to a position of the mining machine; a determination unit whichdetermines whether or not a second route corresponding to a positioninformation group obtained from a plurality of pieces of the positioninformation detected by the position information detection unit when themining machine is in operation is identical to a first route that is aroute taken by the mining machine departing a predetermined firstposition, passing a second position at which a load is loaded, andmoving to a third position at which the load is removed, based on atleast route information of the first route and the position informationgroup, the route information including a plurality of nodes present atevery predetermined distance of the first route and a link connectingthe nodes adjacent to each other; and a storage unit which storestherein the route information, wherein the determination unit determinesthat the second route corresponding to the position information group isidentical to the first route when: first position informationcorresponding to the first position corresponds with the first positionof the route information, second position information corresponding tothe second position corresponds with the second position of the routeinformation, and third position information corresponding to the thirdposition corresponds with the third position of the route information,the first, second, and third position information being included in theplurality of pieces of position information; a ratio of the nodes eachof which is located at a position that corresponds with the positioninformation is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold out ofthe plurality of nodes present between the first position and the secondposition and the plurality of nodes present between the second positionand the third position; and a difference between a travel distance ofthe second route of the mining machine obtained by adding a distancefrom the first position information corresponding to the first positionto the second position information corresponding to the second positionand a distance from the second position information corresponding to thesecond position to the third position information corresponding to thethird position based on the plurality of pieces of position informationand a travel distance of the first route obtained by adding a distancefrom a node closest to a first discharge station including the firstposition to a node closest to a loading station including the secondposition in a route from the first position up to the second positionand a distance from a node closest to a loading station including thesecond position to a node closest to a second discharge stationincluding the third position in a route from the second position up tothe third position on the first route falls within a predeterminedrange.
 6. A management method of a management system of a mining machineincluding a position information detection unit which is mounted in amining machine operating in a mine and a management device which detectsposition information related to a position of the mining machine,comprising: detecting, by the position information detection unit,position information related to a position of the mining machine; anddetermining, by a management device, the whether or not a second routecorresponding to a position information group obtained from a pluralityof pieces of the position information detected when the mining machineis in operation is identical to a first route that is a route taken bythe mining machine departing a predetermined first position, passing asecond position at which a load is loaded, and moving to a thirdposition at which the load is removed, based on at least routeinformation of the first route and the position information group, theroute information including a plurality of nodes present at everypredetermined distance of the first route and a link connecting thenodes adjacent to each other, wherein the determining includesdetermining that the second route corresponding to the positioninformation group is identical to the first route when: first positioninformation corresponding to the first position corresponds with thefirst position of the route information, second position informationcorresponding to the second position corresponds with the secondposition of the route information, and third position informationcorresponding to the third position corresponds with the third positionof the route information, the first, second, and third positioninformation being included in the plurality of pieces of positioninformation; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at a positionthat corresponds with the position information is greater than or equalto a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodes presentbetween the first position and the second position and the plurality ofnodes present between the second position and the third position; and adifference between a travel distance of the mining machine obtained fromthe plurality of pieces of position information and a distance from thefirst position through the second position up to the third positionfalls within a predetermined range, wherein a section having a pluralityof the links adjacent to each other within the first route is determinedto be a specific section in which a slope difference between the linksadjacent to each other falls within a predetermined value, anorientation difference between the links adjacent to each other fallswithin a predetermined value, and there is no intersection between thelinks, and the determining includes determining that the second route isnot identical to the first route when a position of the node at each ofboth ends of the specific section does not correspond with positioninformation corresponding to the second route for all the specificsection.
 7. A management method of a management system of a miningmachine including a position information detection unit which is mountedin a mining machine operating in a mine and a management device whichdetects position information related to a position of the miningmachine, comprising: detecting, by the position information detectionunit, position information related to a position of the mining machine;and determining, by a management device, the whether or not a secondroute corresponding to a position information group obtained from aplurality of pieces of the position information detected when the miningmachine is in operation is identical to a first route that is a routetaken by the mining machine departing a predetermined first position,passing a second position at which a load is loaded, and moving to athird position at which the load is removed, based on at least routeinformation of the first route and the position information group, theroute information including a plurality of nodes present at everypredetermined distance of the first route and a link connecting thenodes adjacent to each other, wherein the determining includesdetermining that the second route corresponding to the positioninformation group is identical to the first route when: first positioninformation corresponding to the first position corresponds with thefirst position of the route information, second position informationcorresponding to the second position corresponds with the secondposition of the route information, and third position informationcorresponding to the third position corresponds with the third positionof the route information, the first, second, and third positioninformation being included in the plurality of pieces of positioninformation; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at a positionthat corresponds with the position information is greater than or equalto a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodes presentbetween the first position and the second position and the plurality ofnodes present between the second position and the third position; and adifference between a travel distance of the mining machine obtained fromthe plurality of pieces of position information and a distance from thefirst position through the second position us to the third positionfalls within a predetermined range, wherein at least one of the numberof travels, travel time, and operation information of the mining machinetravelling the first route is updated when the second route isdetermined to be identical to the first route, and at least one of thenumber of travels, travel time, and operation information of the miningmachine travelling the latest first route is updated when the secondroute is determined to be identical to a plurality of the first routes.8. A management method of a management system of a mining machineincluding a position information detection unit which is mounted in amining machine operating in a mine and a management device which detectsposition information related to a position of the mining machine,comprising: detecting, by the position information detection unit,position information related to a position of the mining machine; anddetermining, by a management device, the whether or not a second routecorresponding to a position information group obtained from a pluralityof pieces of the position information detected when the mining machineis in operation is identical to a first route that is a route taken bythe mining machine departing a predetermined first position, passing asecond position at which a load is loaded, and moving to a thirdposition at which the load is removed, based on at least routeinformation of the first route and the position information group, theroute information including a plurality of nodes present at everypredetermined distance of the first route and a link connecting thenodes adjacent to each other, wherein the determining includesdetermining that the second route corresponding to the positioninformation group is identical to the first route when: first positioninformation corresponding to the first position corresponds with thefirst position of the route information, second position informationcorresponding to the second position corresponds with the secondposition of the route information, and third position informationcorresponding to the third position corresponds with the third positionof the route information, the first, second, and third positioninformation being included in the plurality of pieces of positioninformation; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at a positionthat corresponds with the position information is greater than or equalto a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodes presentbetween the first position and the second position and the plurality ofnodes present between the second position and the third position; and adifference between a travel distance of the mining machine obtained fromthe plurality of pieces of position information and a distance from thefirst position through the second position us to the third positionfalls within a predetermined range, wherein when the second route isdetermined to be not identical to the first route, the plurality ofpieces of position information corresponding to the second route is usedto generate new route information that includes the plurality of nodesand at least one of the links related to the second route, and a sectionhaving a plurality of the links adjacent to each other within the firstroute is determined to be a specific section in which a slope differencebetween the links adjacent to each other falls within a predeterminedvalue, an orientation difference between the links adjacent to eachother falls within a predetermined value, and there is no intersectionbetween the links, and at least one of the number of travels, the traveltime, and the operation information of the mining machine travelling aspecific section of the first route is updated when the second route isdetermined to be identical to the first route, a specific section of thesecond route corresponds with the specific section of the first route,or a new specific section is generated.
 9. A management method of amanagement system of a mining machine including a position informationdetection unit which is mounted in a mining machine operating in a mineand a management device which detects position information related to aposition of the mining machine, comprising: detecting, by the positioninformation detection unit, position information related to a positionof the mining machine; and determining, by a management device, thewhether or not a second route corresponding to a position informationgroup obtained from a plurality of pieces of the position informationdetected when the mining machine is in operation is identical to a firstroute that is a route taken by the mining machine departing apredetermined first position, passing a second position at which a loadis loaded, and moving to a third position at which the load is removed,based on at least route information of the first route and the positioninformation group, the route information including a plurality of nodespresent at every predetermined distance of the first route and a linkconnecting the nodes adjacent to each other, wherein the determiningincludes determining that the second route corresponding to the positioninformation group is identical to the first route when: first positioninformation corresponding to the first position corresponds with thefirst position of the route information, second position informationcorresponding to the second position corresponds with the secondposition of the route information, and third position informationcorresponding to the third position corresponds with the third positionof the route information, the first, second, and third positioninformation being included in the plurality of pieces of positioninformation; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at a positionthat corresponds with the position information is greater than or equalto a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodes presentbetween the first position and the second position and the plurality ofnodes present between the second position and the third position; and adifference between a travel distance of the mining machine obtained fromthe plurality of pieces of position information and a distance from thefirst position through the second position up to the third positionfalls within a predetermined range, wherein correspondence between theplurality of pieces of position information and each of the firstposition information, the second position information, and the thirdposition information is determined by using the first position, thesecond position, and the third position on the first route that areregistered in a predetermined database for less than a predeterminedperiod of time.
 10. The mining machine management system according toclaim 4, wherein a section having a plurality of the links adjacent toeach other within the first route is determined to be a specific sectionin which a slope difference between the links adjacent to each otherfalls within a predetermined value, an orientation difference betweenthe links adjacent to each other falls within a predetermined value, andthere is no intersection between the links, and the determination unitdetermines that the second route is not identical to the first routewhen a position of the node at each of both ends of the specific sectiondoes not correspond with position information corresponding to thesecond route for all the specific section.
 11. The mining machinemanagement system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unitupdates at least one of the number of travels, travel time, andoperation information of the mining machine travelling the first routewhen the second route is determined to be identical to the first route.12. The mining machine management system according to claim 11, whereinthe determination unit updates at least one of the number of travels,travel time, and operation information of the mining machine travellingthe latest first route when the second route is determined to beidentical to a plurality of the first routes.
 13. The mining machinemanagement system according to claim 1, further comprising a routeinformation generation unit which generates route information includingthe plurality of nodes and at least one of the links based on theplurality of pieces of position information, wherein when thedetermination unit determines that the second route is not identical tothe first route, the route information generation unit uses theplurality of pieces of position information corresponding to the secondroute to generate new route information that includes the plurality ofnodes and at least one of the links related to the second route, andstores the new route information into the storage unit.
 14. The miningmachine management system according to claim 13, wherein when thedetermination unit determines that the second route is not identical tothe first route and a part of the position information group correspondswith positions of a part of the nodes included in existing routeinformation, the route information generation unit generates the newroute information by using the node whose position corresponds with thepart of the position information group.
 15. The mining machinemanagement system according to claim 13, wherein the determination unitupdates at least one of the number of travels, the travel time, and theoperation information of the mining machine travelling a specificsection of the first route when the second route is determined to beidentical to the first route, a specific section of the second routecorresponds with the specific section of the first route, or a newspecific section is generated.
 16. The mining machine management systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines one ofthe nodes, to which three or more of the links are connected, as anintersection.
 17. The mining machine management system according toclaim 1, wherein the determination unit compares the plurality of piecesof position information with the route information located in apredetermined range around the plurality of pieces of positioninformation to determine whether or not the second route correspondingto a plurality of the position information groups is identical to thefirst route.
 18. The mining machine management system according to claim1, wherein the determination unit determines correspondence between theplurality of pieces of position information and each of the firstposition information, the second position information, and the thirdposition information by using the first position, the second position,and the third position on the first route that are registered in thestorage unit for less than a predetermined period of time.
 19. Amanagement method of a management system of a mining machine including aposition information detection unit which is mounted in a mining machineoperating in a mine and a management device which detects positioninformation related to a position of the mining machine, comprising:detecting, by the position information detection unit, positioninformation related to a position of the mining machine; anddetermining, by a management device, the whether or not a second routecorresponding to a position information group obtained from a pluralityof pieces of the position information detected when the mining machineis in operation is identical to a first route that is a route taken bythe mining machine departing a predetermined first position, passing asecond position at which a load is loaded, and moving to a thirdposition at which the load is removed, based on at least routeinformation of the first route and the position information group, theroute information including a plurality of nodes present at everypredetermined distance of the first route and a link connecting thenodes adjacent to each other, wherein the determining includesdetermining that the second route corresponding to the positioninformation group is identical to the first route when: first positioninformation corresponding to the first position corresponds with thefirst position of the route information, second position informationcorresponding to the second position corresponds with the secondposition of the route information, and third position informationcorresponding to the third position corresponds with the third positionof the route information, the first, second, and third positioninformation being included in the plurality of pieces of positioninformation; a ratio of the nodes each of which is located at a positionthat corresponds with the position information is greater than or equalto a predetermined threshold out of the plurality of nodes presentbetween the first position and the second position and the plurality ofnodes present between the second position and the third position; and adifference between a travel distance of the second route of the miningmachine obtained by adding a distance from the first positioninformation corresponding to the first position to the second positioninformation corresponding to the second position and a distance from thesecond position information corresponding to the second position to thethird position information corresponding to the third position based onthe plurality of pieces of position information and a travel distance ofthe first route obtained by adding a distance from a node closest to afirst discharge station including the first position to a node closestto a loading station including the second position in a route from thefirst position up to the second position and a distance from a nodeclosest to a loading station including the second position to a nodeclosest to a second discharge station including the third position in aroute from the second position up to the third position on the firstroute falls within a predetermined range.
 20. The management method of amanagement system of a mining machine according to claim 9, wherein themanagement device determines that a section having a plurality of thelinks adjacent to each other within the first route is a specificsection in which a slope difference between the links adjacent to eachother falls within a predetermined value, an orientation differencebetween the links adjacent to each other falls within a predeterminedvalue, and there is no intersection between the links, and thedetermining includes determining that the second route is not identicalto the first route when a position of the node at each of both ends ofthe specific section does not correspond with position informationcorresponding to the second route for all the specific section.
 21. Themanagement method of a management system of a mining machine accordingto claim 6, wherein the management device updates at least one of thenumber of travels, travel time, and operation information of the miningmachine travelling the first route when the second route is determinedto be identical to the first route.
 22. The management method of amanagement system of a mining machine according to claim 21, wherein themanagement device updates at least one of the number of travels, traveltime, and operation information of the mining machine travelling thelatest first route when the second route is determined to be identicalto a plurality of the first routes.
 23. The management method of amanagement system of a mining machine according to claim 6, wherein whenthe second route is determined to be not identical to the first route,the management device uses the plurality of pieces of positioninformation corresponding to the second route to generate new routeinformation that includes the plurality of nodes and at least one of thelinks related to the second route.
 24. The management method of amanagement system of a mining machine according to claim 23, whereinwhen the second route is not identical to the first route and a part ofthe position information group corresponds with positions of a part ofthe nodes included in existing route information, the management devicegenerates the new route information by using the node whose positioncorresponds with the part of the position information group.
 25. Themanagement method of a management system of a mining machine accordingto claim 23, wherein the management device updates at least one of thenumber of travels, the travel time, and the operation information of themining machine travelling a specific section of the first route when thesecond route is determined to be identical to the first route, aspecific section of the second route corresponds with the specificsection of the first route, or a new specific section is generated. 26.The management method of a management system of a mining machineaccording to claim 6, wherein the management device determines that oneof the nodes to which three or more of the links are connected is anintersection.
 27. The management method of a management system of amining machine according to claim 6, wherein the management devicedetermines correspondence between the plurality of pieces of positioninformation and each of the first position information, the secondposition information, and the third position information by using thefirst position, the second position, and the third position on the firstroute that are registered in a predetermined database for less than apredetermined period of time.